The Kentucky Supreme Court rejected claims by death row inmates that the state’s lethal injection process risks wanton and excruciating pain in violation of the ban on cruel and unusal punishments. The Court upheld a 2005 lower court ruling similarly rejecting the claims of inmates Ralph Baze and Thomas C. Bowling. In its unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court held: “Conflicting medical testimony prevents us from stating categorically that a prisoner feels no pain. But the prohibition is against cruel punishment and does not require a complete absence of pain.” Lawyers for the defendants plan to appeal the case further.

(The Courier-Journal, Nov. 23, 2006). See Lethal Injection and Methods of Execution.