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Judges in several states have started to put up potentially insurmountable roadblocks to the use of lethal injections to execute condemned inmates. Their decisions are based on new evidence suggesting that prisoners have endured agonizing executions. In response, judges are insisting that doctors take an active role in supervising executions, even though the American Medical Association's code of ethics prohibits that. A federal judge in North Carolina, for instance, ordered state officials there to find medical personnel by noon today to supervise an execution scheduled for next week. Otherwise, the judge said, he will impose a stay of execution. "This,...

Highest Md. court to hear lethal injection challenge, claim that race had roleMaryland's highest court halted Monday the scheduled execution of convicted murderer Vernon Lee Evans Jr., agreeing to hear his challenge to the state's lethal injection procedure, along with claims that race has played a role in his case The Maryland Court of Appeals issued its orders on the first of five days when a death warrant authorized the state to put Evans to death for the 1983 contract killings of two Pikesville motel employees.

The American Civil Liberties Union claimed in a federal lawsuit Wednesday that California's lethal injection protocol violates the First Amendment rights of execution witnesses by not allowing them to see if the inmate is experiencing pain before death. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, says the only reason San Quentin State Prison officials inject a paralyzing agent is to sanitize the execution and prevent witnesses from perhaps seeing convulsions. The paralyzing drug, according to the lawsuit, "makes it impossible for witnesses to determine whether death row inmates in California are being subjected to substantial and unnecessary...

A decade ago, when Washington lawmakers made lethal injection the primary way to execute convicted killers, it was considered less barbaric than hanging and less likely to bring long, costly appeals. The state Supreme Court has called lethal injection "undoubtedly constitutional" and said that ruling otherwise would be "tantamount to forbidding the death penalty altogether." But now, as death row inmates in other states claim it's cruel punishment because it may not bring a peaceful death as once believed, some attorneys say Washington courts will likely have to take another look at the method. "There's no doubt it will come...

The state of California has proposed altering the amount of life-ending drugs to be used in executions and would continually drip a sedative into prisoners to make sure they don't become conscious during the process, prosecutors said Friday. California's chief death penalty prosecutor, Dane Gillette, said at a hearing that the changes would ensure that a prisoner "would not experience wanton or unnecessary pain." U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel didn't say whether he would approve of the new method. The proposal responds to a lawsuit brought by Michael Morales, who was scheduled to be executed Feb. 21. The injection was...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court refused Monday to directly consider whether the drug combination used in executions across the country amounts to unconstitutional cruel punishment. The justices had already agreed to hear arguments in April in a case brought by Florida death row inmate Clarence Hill about the procedure for lethal injection challenges to be filed in federal court. Monday's decision, which came on a separate appeal by Hill's lawyer, has little practical significance because Hill's other case is still pending. The justices did not comment when they declined to broaden their review and take up Hill's appeal that raised...

Michael Morales is a death row inmate in California scheduled to die on February 21st. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel has ruled that an anesthesiologist must ensure that Mr. Morales is unconscious before the paralyzing agent and heart-stopping drug can be administered. Fogel said he would block the execution otherwise to "guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment, which is banned by the Constitution." How very considerate. Do you know why Mr. Morales is on death row? Let me tell you

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States is taking a new look at the use of lethal injections to execute condemned prisoners after the challenges of three inmates who were barely saved from the needle by the Supreme Court. The justices will not reopen the cases of Michael Taylor, a rapist and killer who was due to be executed in Missouri on Wednesday, or Clarence Hill and Arthur Rutherford, two convicted killers in Florida who have also had their executions stayed over the past eight days. But the highest US court will decide whether the three can challenge the use of...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has triggered a debate over the mix of drugs used to carry out death sentences, with the justices delaying three executions and giving hope of eleventh-hour reprieves to other inmates. Florida and Missouri were forced to cancel executions by lethal injection this week. Prisoners in California, Maryland and other states are trying to win stays this month. An announcement from the high court last week is giving new hope for their appeals. The justices will consider whether a Florida inmate was wrongly barred from pursuing a claim that the lethal drugs cause pain in...

Ailing killer executed at age 76 Condemned for 3 slayings, Allen is oldest ever put to death in state Clarence Ray Allen, a twice-convicted murderer enfeebled by age and illness after more than two decades on Death Row, was executed by lethal injection early today at San Quentin State Prison for ordering three killings from his prison cell in 1980. Allen, who turned 76 on Monday, was pronounced dead about 12:38 a.m. He is the oldest prisoner ever executed in California and one of the oldest ever put to death in the United States. His last hope was extinguished Monday...

Lethal journey draws to a close By John Simerman CONTRA COSTA TIMES Stanley "Tookie" Williams will spend most of his remaining daytime hours with visitors inside a Plexiglas cubicle, wearing waist restraints and handcuffs and under constant watch. About 6 p.m., a special security team will escort him from North Segregation, the original death row, to an annex building, and one of two "death watch cells" adjacent to the green execution chamber. There, he can watch TV or listen to the radio, possibly tuning in as supporters gather for a mass vigil expected outside the prison's East Gate. The Crips...

JOHN AND KEN on KFI live from San Quentin -- OFFICIAL TOOKIE WILLIAMS countdown thread KFI's John and Ken begin their special broadcast from San Quentin today at 3pm Pacific. KFI will broadcast the event until 1am on Tuesday morning. If this monster really cares about kids, he will admit what he did, apologize to the families, apologize to supporters of whom he has made fools, and tell kids this is how they will end up if they take someone's life. 3PM PACIFIC - listen online to John and Ken broadcasting from outside San Quentin ***TOOKIE COUNTDOWN CLOCK*** SAN QUENTIN...

You'd die for a table at the most exclusive diner in all California LA Notebook by Chris Ayres THE MOST exclusive restaurant in California is located a few miles north of San Francisco and has been in business since 1852. It is exclusive because patrons can request in advance exactly what they want to eat, thus avoiding the inconvenience of a menu, and because it has served only seven customers — yes, seven — in the past decade. There is, however, one significant downside to the cachet of eating at this establishment: the after-dinner cocktail is served in a syringe,...

CBSNEWS.COM Los Angeles Dec. 11, 2005 (AP) A lawyer for convicted murderer Stanley Tookie Williams asked the state Supreme Court to stay his execution, saying the Crips gang co-founder should have been allowed to argue that someone else killed one of his four alleged victims. Attorney Verna Wefald filed a petition Saturday challenging the validity of the four convictions and death sentences given in 1981 to Williams, who is scheduled to die Tuesday at San Quentin State Prison. She also filed an emergency request seeking a stay, the Los Angeles Times reported. Williams' lawyers also have asked Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger...

LISTEN ONLINE TO JOHN AND KEN - KFI 640 at 5pm Pacific If things go as planned, the TOOKIE MUST DIE HOUR shows are dwindling down to the final few -- today's show, a Monday show, and then a celebratory show on Tuesday after the big event.

Former War Crimes Prosecutor & Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues, Pierre Prosper, releases statement regarding the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. A former prosecutor in Los Angeles County, Prosper offers support for the jury and the Los Angeles District Attorney. Los Angeles (PRWEB) December 9, 2005 -- From the office of the Prosper for Attorney General Campaign, the following statement from former United States Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues, Pierre-Richard Prosper, was released on Thursday, December 8, 2005. "Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is holding clemency review for the co-founder of the infamous Crips street gang and convicted...

JOIN THE FUN - 5pm PACIFIC KFI 640: LISTEN ONLINE TO JOHN AND KEN'S FAMOUS "TOOKIE MUST DIE HOUR" -- 5pm Pacific Yes, Tookie Williams no longer needs to worry about expiration dates on dairy products. I don't believe he will do it, but if Arnold grants clemency, look for Saddam Hussein to start writing children's books.

LISTEN TO JOHN AND KEN ONLINE AT 5PM PACIFIC --- THE FAMOUS "TOOKIE MUST DIE HOUR" The "community" is really upset with John and Ken and their TOOKIE MUST DIE HOUR. It is driving them absolutely insane. John and Ken will broadcast their show on Dec. 12 from outside San Quentin. I understand that John Ziegler will be there. Zig has the 7-10 shift. Unfortunately, George Noory is on KFI at 10pm. I doubt that he will broadcast the execution on COAST TO COAST. That's okay. Maybe he can have on Major Ed Dames to remote view or a...

Candlelight Vigil Today for Williams LOS ANGELES - Activists seeking clemency for convicted killer and Crips gang co-founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams will hold a candlelight vigil today in front of the restaurant founded by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger has scheduled a private clemency hearing Thursday with Williams' lawyers and prosecutors. The rally will be held at Schatzi on Main in Santa Monica, according to Danielle Heck of the Save Tookie Committee-LA. Schwarzenegger no longer owns the restaurant. Yesterday, a rally was held in Leimert Park to urge Schwarzenegger to grant clemency to Williams, who is scheduled to be executed Dec....

NOTE: More than 600 death row inmates who had been sentenced to death between 1967 and 1972 had their death sentences lifted as a result of Furman, but the numbers quickly began to build up again as states enacted revised legislation tailored to satisfy the Supreme Court's objections to arbitrary imposition of death sentences. The first execution under the new death penalty laws took place on January 17, 1977, when convicted murdered Gary Gilmore was executed by firing squad in Utah. Gilmore's was the first execution in the United States since 1967. After Gilmore, 998 more have been executed. Tookie...