Justices to decide Florida death row inmate case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court said on
Wednesday that it would decide the case of a Florida death row
inmate who is challenging the three chemicals that would be
used for his execution.

The high court agreed to hear the appeal by the attorney
for Clarence Hill, who is arguing that the state’s use of the
chemicals will cause unnecessary pain in violation of the
constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Hill got a stay of execution from Supreme Court Justice
Anthony Kennedy on Tuesday night, when he was scheduled to be
put to death. The court said on Wednesday the stay of execution
will remain in effect until the case is decided.

Florida uses sodium pentothal, which produces shallow
anesthesia, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride as the
chemicals for lethal injection, Hill’s attorney, D. Todd Doss,
said in the appeal to the Supreme Court.

He cited a recent medical study that pancuronium bromide
causes suffocation while potassium chloride causes burning in
the veins and massive muscle cramping before resulting in
cardiac arrest.

The chemical cocktail in Florida is similar to what the
other states use for lethal injections, according to the Death
Penalty Information Center, a group opposed to capital
punishment.

The high court will decide whether Hill can bring his
challenge. It will consider whether a challenge to a particular
way a state plans to carry out an execution constituted a
recognizable claim under federal civil rights law.

A federal judge and a U.S. appeals court dismissed Hill’s
challenge for lack of jurisdiction. It was filed on January 20.

The appeals court ruled that it was the equivalent of a
another habeas petition, which Hill did not have approval to
bring. The justices will decide if the appeals court was
correct.

Hill was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1982
slaying of a Pensacola police officer and the wounding of his
partner.