On April 16, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that lethal injection as practiced in Kentucky is not “cruel and unusual punishment” under the U.S. Constitution.  The case is Baze v. Rees, no. 07-5439.  Yet, this year, when the second place horse in the Kentucky Derby broke both front ankles and was euthanized, Supreme Court Justice Stevens remarked to a large group of lawyers that the horse probably died more humanely than do death row prisoners in Kentucky.
Just weeks later a federal judge in Delaware stayed executions there so she could consider the constitutionality of Delaware’s lethal injection procedures.  By May 23, 2008, there had been two executions, one each in Georgia and Mississippi.  Another May execution was scheduled in Virginia.  Seven executions were scheduled for June and another six for July.  Half of those to be executed are in Texas.
Reprinted by permission from:
Coalition For Prisoner’s Rights
Coalition for Prisoner’s Rights, PO Box 1911, Santa Fe, NM 87504