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.

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