Federal judge halts use of lethal injection drugs in Mississippi
[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi [official website] issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday blocking the use of two drugs for lethal injections. The order was issued [AP report] in a phone conference with Jim Craig, a lawyer for two plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of the drug combination used in executions in the state. The plaintiffs claim the drugs cause pain, violating the Eighth Amendment. One of the plaintiffs, 69-year-old Richard Gerald Jordan, was convicted [New Orleans Advocate report] for the murder and kidnapping of a 34-year-old woman from Gulfport in 1976. In July, the Mississippi Attorney General's Office asked the Mississippi Supreme Court [official websites] to set an execution date for Jordan within the next 30 days. The Attorney General's Office has said they plan to appeal the order in US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
In July the US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [JURIST report] 5-4 in that Oklahoma's use of the sedative midazolam as part of its lethal injection protocol does not violate the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In the case, the inmates alleged that a negligent administering of the drug can cause one to be conscious for the remainder of the lethal injection process, as evidenced by Oklahoma's botched execution [JURIST report] of former inmate Clayton Lockett. The court granted certiorari [JURIST report] in the case in January.
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