Justices to decide Florida death row inmate case
Posted on: Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 15:07 CST
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.
Source: REUTERS
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