Posted on 12/15/2006 10:37:15 PM PST by Zakeet
SAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge who imposed a moratorium on executions in California ruled Friday that the state's method of lethal injection is unconstitutional because it violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
California's "implementation of lethal injection is broken, but it can be fixed," U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said.
Fogel said the case raised the question of whether a three-drug cocktail administered by the San Quentin State Prison is so painful that it "offends" the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Fogel said he was compelled "to answer that question in the affirmative."
Fogel's decision came on the same day that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush suspended all executions in that state after a botched execution this week.
Lethal injection is the preferred execution method in 37 states. Last month, a federal judge declared unconstitutional Missouri's injection method, which is similar to California's.
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld executions — by hanging, firing squad, electric chair and gas chamber — despite the pain they might cause, but has left unsettled the issue of whether the pain is unconstitutionally excessive.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Just tried to say that fast ten times. Couldn't even do it once.
The answer here in the end...is to build a rather remote prison in the far-back of Montana. Give every deathrow inmate a one-way ticket into the facility...give them a 8 foot by 10 foot cell...which would have a door which would slide open each day for 60 minutes to allow them into a court-yard of 400 sq ft. Allow them no human contact...just three simple meals per day...no juices...no coffee...just water and simple food (3000 calories per day only). Allow no electricity into the cube except for the light which is lit for 12 hours per day and radio speaker built into the ceiling which plays salsa music during the daylight hours. No books, no tv, no entertainment, no gym, no contact. This is the only way to make the anti-execution crowd happy and the pro-execution crowd happy. The guy sitting in this type of facility will eventually kill himself within a year or two...and the prison population will always maintain a disposal plan of inmates. We can even contract this out.
Don't worry about Fogel. SCOTUS will overrule him like they always do.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Death By Salsa? Now they're going to say that unduly favors Latino inmates.
The headline is misleading and false. He gave a clear map to remedy the situation and all executions to go forward.
I think the initial crimes that resulted in this penalty are unconstitutional as well as alot of the grinding legal system.
Well, if a judge says it, then it must be true.
Then kill them with a bullet, it's quicker, and if more who deserved it were executed, it wouldn't be unusual. There, problem solved.
Heck, we might even get volunteers!
bump ... thank God this has already been settled.
Mark
If I didn't know better, I'd say some RINOs in California took my advice and imported "electable moderate" George H. Ryan after all. Perhaps ol' George changed his name. Being pro-criminal is one of those surprises "electable moderates" typically don't tell you about until they're in office.
We'll know for certain if this judge follows it up by unilaterally raising state "fees" in California and orders the General Assembly into "special session" indefinitely until they pass more "reasonable" gun control" laws.
Don't laugh. The REAL George Ryan actually did all this stuff during his tenure: halted all executions with a stroke of the pen, jacked up everyone's taxes under the guise of higher "fee" increases to pay for education, and held the legislature hostage til he got them to punish gun owners.
It doesn't matter though, cuz he was ELECTABLE!
"... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one MAKES them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. ......just pass the the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted -- and you create a nation of law-breakers -- and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."- p.411, Ayn Rand, ATLAS SHRUGGED, Signet Books, NY, 1957 "...
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