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Prisoner claims legal injection cruel and unusual { January 23 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14106631p-14936275c.html http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14106631p-14936275c.html Condemned prisoner claims lethal injection 'cruel and unusual' By Claire Cooper -- Bee Legal Affairs Writer Published 8:54 pm PST Monday, January 23, 2006 SAN FRANCISCO - Like so many other administrative complaints made by California prisoners, the one filed by Michael Angelo Morales this month is squeezed onto a one-page prison form. But Morales' message sounds an unusual note of urgency: "My execution by lethal injection is imminent and will be a cruel and unusual form of punishment." Morales has a Feb. 21 date in the death chamber for the rape and murder of a teenage girl in Lodi. In a neat script he explains his "grave concerns." He fears that pancuronium bromide, the second of three drugs administered in executions by California and 26 other states - yet banned by the American Veterinary Medical Association in euthanizing animals - will leave him conscious of torturous pain but paralyzed and unable to cry out. The issue has potential for postponing Morales' death and altering California executions. State lawyers have been directed to explain why they consider the paralyzing drug necessary in a federal court hearing Thursday in San Jose. The lawyers, citing an opinion by Dr. Mark Dershwitz, contend in a brief filed Monday that "over 99.999999999999 percent of the population would be unconscious within 60 seconds" of receiving the first of three drugs, a five-gram dose of the sedative sodium pentothal, administered before the pancuronium bromide. According to the prosecution brief, the lawyers also will challenge whether it's the court's function to suggest a "more humane or medically acceptable execution protocol." Nearly three decades after capital punishment was reinstated in California, the constitutionality of using pancuronium bromide is one of several active disputes that could force systemic changes. Another, concerning the rights of foreign nationals, including dozens on California's death row, is likely to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court this year. Other battles are under way or are brewing - defense lawyers have presented them to the courts but haven't yet persuaded judges to grant hearings, said Michael Laurence, director of the Habeas Corpus Resource Center, which represents California death row inmates in the latter stages of their cases. The foreign nationals issue is before the high court in cases from Oregon and Virginia, though most of the inmates who will be affected by the decisions are in California. The question is the validity of death sentences imposed by states on foreign nationals who were denied consular access after their arrests, in violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. A decision is expected by early summer.

confederate-law deathpenalty force-confession planting-guns rockefeller-law tulia-texas 1 in 99 americans in jail { January 2008 } 25percent of worlds prisoners 3 days in nyc jails { November 23 2002 } Black man imprisoned 25 years freed by dna { April 23 2007 } Black man innocent of murder freed after 27 years { April 29 2008 } Black prison rate reach peak { April 7 2003 } British police new supergun for rioters { October 9 2005 } California highest percapita jail population outside china { November 18 2003 } Correctional population hits record 7m { July 26 2004 } Correctional services corporation builds texas detention center Corrections 7m ap Corrections 7m reuters Crime rose 2001 Dna clears florida man of 1981 rape and robbery { January 14 2006 } Dna exoneration { August 26 2002 } Dna tests free man in prison 25 years Drug laws dont reduce drug crime Fbi method sent innocent hundreds to prison { November 18 2007 } Federal prisons packed Halliburton contracted to build immigration jails Highest adult imprisonment world { August 18 2003 } Inmates not violent Innocent british prisoner charged with living expenses La riots one year later { April 29 2002 } Lawmakers seek to end business boom behind bars { February 23 2005 } Man cleared by dna after 17 years Microsoft cheap labor in prisons { March 19 2001 } Millions behind bars One in 37 done time One of every 75 men in prison { May 27 2004 } Overcrowded prisoners to take sleep shifts Poor lawyers in death sentence { June 26 2003 } Prison labor grows { March 19 2000 } Prisoner claims legal injection cruel and unusual { January 23 2006 } Prisoners grew by 900 inmates a week during 2004 { June 30 2003 } Prisons add 1000 inmates each week { May 21 2006 } Prisons colleges Racial segregation continues in california prisons Record 7 million adults in prison system { October 2006 } Record high Sentencing in doubt after supreme court decision { June 25 2004 } Supreme court gives sentencing power to juries { June 26 2004 } Supreme court transforms sentence guidelines { January 13 2005 } Uk prison population hits new record Worlds highest incarceration rate { August 18 2003 } Young inmates caged drugged state study finds { January 28 2004 } Files Listed: 46

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