Kentucky Continues Toward Resuming Lethal Injections

Inmates on death row in Kentucky have not been eligible for execution since 2010.
 
That was when Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled that lethal injection procedures needed to be reexamined.

Kentucky is switching to a one- or two-drug lethal injection after a three-drug cocktail ran into legal and supply problems earlier this year.
 
But critics say the new system could be just as problematic.

Some worried that volunteers–or death row inmates who go willingly to the table–could change their mind in the midst of injection and not receive proper help.

Others said the proposed protocol doesn’t allow an inmate enough to their attorneys in the closing days before an execution.

And still others questioned limiting an inmate’s final statement to two minutes.

But a few death penalty advocates had no sympathy, and say they continue to wait for vindication for victims of crimes punishable by lethal injection.

The proposed regulations must be submitted to the legislative research council by October 15th.
 
And, if there are no delays, state officials say the order against lethal injections could be lifted by March of next year.