Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a stay of exe­cu­tion for three co-defen­dants on fed­er­al death row who were sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed in May. Judge Huvelle’s order delays the exe­cu­tions indef­i­nite­ly and is the result of a lethal injec­tion chal­lenge raised by the three men, James H. Roane Jr., Richard Tipton, and Cory Johnson. This case marks at least the sixth time since January that exe­cu­tions have been stayed after inmates raised chal­lenges to the lethal injec­tion process.

Attorneys for the defen­dants filed a fed­er­al law­suit chal­leng­ing the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of lethal injec­tion, claim­ing that while one of the drugs used ​“sup­pos­ed­ly will ren­der the plain­tiffs insen­si­ble to the pain of their deaths, it in fact can and will mere­ly cast a ​‘chem­i­cal veil’ over this excru­ci­at­ing pain, leav­ing plain­tiffs con­scious but trapped in a par­a­lyzed body wracked with the pain of suf­fo­ca­tion and heart attack. At the same time, this ​‘cock­tail’ will make it impos­si­ble for those observ­ing the exe­cu­tion — includ­ing wit­ness­es to it … to rec­og­nize and pre­vent the gra­tu­itous pain and suf­fer­ing being inflict­ed upon the plain­tiffs.” Huvelle’s order stayed the law­suit pend­ing the deci­sion of the U.S. Supreme Court in a relat­ed Florida case. Arguments in the Florida case, Hill v. McDonough, are sched­uled to take place on April 26, 2006. As they await the Supreme Court’s deci­sion, attor­neys for Roane, Tipton, and Johnson have filed paper­work ask­ing President Bush to grant clemen­cy to their clients. (Terre Haute (IN) Tribune Star, March 7, 2006). 

See fed­er­al death penal­ty, DPIC’s dis­cus­sion of the lethal injec­tion issue, U.S. Supreme Court, and upcom­ing exe­cu­tions.

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