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Supreme Court Will Take Up Lethal Injection

Constitutionality at issue; docket also includes voting rights

By Jonas Oransky, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 25, 2007 2:40 PM CDT

(Newser) – The Supreme Court will take up the constitutionality of lethal injections in what a public defender called one of the most critical death penalty cases “in decades.” The challenge stems from a 2004 suit by two Kentucky inmates on death row who charged that the method constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, the AP reports.

Lethal injection critics say too little anesthetic in the deadly cocktail can leave a convict in horrible pain yet unable to cry out. The docket announced today also includes a case that concerns an Indiana law requiring voters to show photo ID, and whether it infringes poor and minority citizens' voting rights.

This undated photo supplied by the Florida Department of Corrections shows the gurney used to execute death row inmates with a lethal injection in Starke, Fla. The botched death of death row inmate Angel... (Associated Press)

Alabama's lethal injection chamber at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., is pictured in this Oct. 7, 2002 file photo. Anti-death penalty forces have gained momentum in the past few years,... (Associated Press)

Ralph S. Baze, condemned to death for the 1992 shooting deaths of a sheriff and deputy in eastern Kentucky, speaks during an interview Sept. 10, 2007, at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville,... (Associated Press)

Ricky Bell, then the warden at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tenn., gives a tour of the prison's execution chamber on Oct. 13, 1999. Both the electric chair and the lethal injection... (Associated Press)

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Supreme Court Will Take Up Lethal Injection

Constitutionality at issue; docket also includes voting rights

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death penalty • Kentucky • lethal injection • execution • Indiana • voting rights • death row • anesthetic • photo ID • US Supreme Court • constitutionality

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Death Penalty Details Withheld

As high court weighs lethal injection, actual methods are shrouded in secrecy

Executions Drop to 13-Year Low

42 people put to death in '07; further decline could follow Court ruling

Supreme Court Stops Another Execution

Justices halt lethal injection in Florida to review constitutionality

Texas Won't Halt Executions, Despite Stay

State will stick to schedule after Supreme Court ruling

Ga. Death Row Inmate Wins New Hearing

Supreme Court gives convicted cop killer a stay of execution

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Supreme Court Will Take Up Lethal Injection

Constitutionality at issue; docket also includes voting rights

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

death penalty • Kentucky • lethal injection • execution • Indiana • voting rights • death row • anesthetic • photo ID • US Supreme Court • constitutionality

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Death Penalty Details Withheld

As high court weighs lethal injection, actual methods are shrouded in secrecy

Executions Drop to 13-Year Low

42 people put to death in '07; further decline could follow Court ruling

Supreme Court Stops Another Execution

Justices halt lethal injection in Florida to review constitutionality

Texas Won't Halt Executions, Despite Stay

State will stick to schedule after Supreme Court ruling

Ga. Death Row Inmate Wins New Hearing

Supreme Court gives convicted cop killer a stay of execution

About Us

Site

Newser By Users

Community

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