Court Order Blocking Execution Sought by ACLU and Broad
Group of
Advocates, Pending Review of Montana’s Procedures
HELENA, MT -- Attorneys
representing a broad array of interested parties today petitioned the Montana
Supreme Court to bar execution by lethal injection until the protocols involved
can be reviewed to be certain not to violate the United States Constitution’s
Eighth Amendment prohibitions against cruel and unusual
punishment.
“This challenge is fueled by very recent decisions of
the United States Supreme Court, and state and federal courts in a variety of
jurisdictions regarding examination of lethal injection protocols,” said Ron
Waterman, a Helena attorney who filed the petition on behalf of the Montana
Association of Churches, Montana Catholic Conference, the American Civil
Liberties Union of Montana and other groups as well as numerous legislators and
retired jurists.
The petition refers to the types of drugs
administered -- sodium pentothal, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride --
and how those drugs are administered. It questions Montana’s statutory
provision regarding the administration of the death penalty and asks whether
Montana’s current method of administering lethal injections subjects the
condemned to an unacceptable risk of suffering unconstitutional pain and
suffering.
If the drugs work as claimed, sodium pentothal
anesthetizes the prisoner, pancuronium bromide paralyzes the lungs and body, and
potassium chloride causes muscle cramping and a fatal heart attack.
However, the petition alleges sodium pentothal is a short-acting
anesthetic. If it is improperly administered or wears off too early, the
next drugs cause severe pain, leaving the prisoner paralyzed and helpless to
complain.
Over the last several months, courts in California,
Delaware, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, District of Columbia, and the United
States Supreme Court have stayed executions pending investigations into the
constitutionality of lethal injection protocols similar to Montana’s.
Federal courts in two states, Missouri and Arkansas, have recently barred all
executions by lethal injection until changes are made to those states’ lethal
injection protocols.
“We have constitutions in this great nation
and state which ensure all people are protected against cruel and unusual
punishment,” said Waterman. “We have filed to seek injunctive relief until
the Montana protocols are fully scrutinized to guarantee no one is inadvertently
tortured in the process of being executed.”
The lawsuit requests a
temporary restraining order and preliminary and permanent injunctions barring
all executions in Montana by the state’s current means of lethal
injection. Other parties to the suit include the Montana Association of
Criminal Defense Attorneys; five state senators and six state representatives;
retired jurists Supreme Court Justice John C. Sheehy and District Court Judge
Gordon Bennett; and two Montana members of Murder Victims Families for
Reconciliation.