Judge Carven Angel of Florida’s Circuit Court has ordered a halt to exe­cu­tions because of con­cerns that the state’s new lethal injec­tion pro­to­cols do not ade­quate­ly address prob­lems exposed in the state’s last exe­cu­tion. The new pro­to­cols were cre­at­ed after Florida’s botched exe­cu­tion of Angel Diaz in December 2006. The exe­cu­tion took more than 30 min­utes after two tries, and then-gov­er­nor Jeb Bush ordered a review of the process. Judge Angel’s oral order to stop exe­cu­tions came on Sunday, July 22, after he abrupt­ly shut down a week-long hear­ing in which defense attor­neys for Ian Lightbourne and dozens of oth­er clients on death row were chal­leng­ing the new pro­to­cols. The Florida Supreme Court appoint­ed Angel to hear Lightbourne’s case, which began in June. His order could halt all exe­cu­tions through the end of the year. Gov. Charlie Crist had pre­vi­ous­ly signed a death war­rant for Mark Schwab for November 15.
(Palm Beach Post, July 23, 2007). See Lethal Injection.

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