California has pro­posed new lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dures that attempt to sat­is­fy the con­cerns raised by U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel, who found that the state’s pre­vi­ous prac­tice was uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. The new pro­to­col does not change the exist­ing three-drug cock­tail and will not require a doc­tor’s par­tic­i­pa­tion in exe­cu­tions. Defense attor­neys for Michael Morales, whose appeal led to the state’s cur­rent mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions, said the new pro­to­col ​“fails to con­form to the stan­dards for euthana­sia of ani­mals estab­lished by the American Veterinary Medication Association and does not mean­ing­ful­ly address the prob­lems described by Judge Fogel.”

The new pro­to­col changes the dosages, but not the com­bi­na­tion, of drugs used to car­ry out exe­cu­tions in the state. Though the state did not pro­vide a rea­son for the change, it directs those car­ry­ing out exe­cu­tions to admin­is­ter less of the anes­thet­ic thiopen­tal, more pan­curo­ni­um bro­mide, and less potas­si­um chlo­ride. The pro­to­col also includes sug­ges­tions for assess­ing the inmate’s con­scious­ness, such as ​“talk­ing to and gen­tly shak­ing the inmate, as well as light­ly brush­ing the eye­lash­es.” The state did acknowl­edge that the pre­vi­ous pro­to­col ​“made no pro­vi­sions for any objec­tive assess­ment of con­scious­ness of the con­demned inmate fol­low­ing admin­is­tra­tion” of the first drug.

The new pro­to­col requires that the war­den and a licensed voca­tion­al nurse be in the death cham­ber to make sure that the inmate is uncon­scious and the exe­cu­tion is pro­ceed­ing prop­er­ly. Lethal injec­tion expert Deborah Denno, a Fordham University law pro­fes­sor, said she ques­tioned whether a licensed voca­tion­al nurse is com­pe­tent to assess a con­demned inmate’s anes­thet­ic depth.

Judge Fogel has sched­uled a June 1 sta­tus con­fer­ence in the Morales case. It is unclear when the judge will rule on the state’s new pro­to­col, but until he does, exe­cu­tions will like­ly remain on hold in California.
(Los Angeles Times, May 16, 2007). Read the new California Protocol. See Lethal Injections.

Citation Guide