On May 28, Nebraska’s Governor Dave Heineman signed a bill changing the state’s method of execution from electrocution to lethal injection. Nebraska had been without a legal method of execution since February 2008 when the state’s Supreme Court found the electric chair unconstitutional. Before executions in the state can resume, Nebraska still needs to develop procedures for lethal injections and the new law will be tested in court. Nebraska was the last state to have the electric chair as its sole means of execution.

(J. Funk, “Nebraska’s governor signs lethal injection bill,” Associated Press, May 28, 2009). Nebraska has not carried out an execution since 1997. There are 10 inmates on death row. There have been 3 executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1973. See Recent Legislative Activity and Lethal Injection.

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