Tennessee execution disrupted by lethal injection scrummage

As this local story details, Tennessee’s “plans to execute convicted cop killer Philip Workman on Wednesday stalled Friday when a federal judge agreed that the state’s new execution guidelines could conflict with the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.”  Here’s more:

In issuing a temporary restraining order, U.S. District Judge Todd J. Campbell said more time is needed to examine the defense claims that “the new execution protocol exposes (Workman) to a foreseeable and likely unnecessary risk” of pain and suffering prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.  Those were the arguments earlier in the day when Kelley Henry, a federal public defender representing Workman, said the new execution procedure was worse than the flawed older method.

The state will “review the judge’s opinion and then decide whether to appeal,” said Sharon Curtis-Flair, spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office. The state’s options would be to ask the court to reconsider the order or to appeal to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.  Barring those moves, the execution will be put off until at least May 14, when Campbell will hold an 8 a.m. hearing.

It will be interesting to see what the Sixth Circuit might do with this TRO if it gets appealed.  The full Sixth Circuit has been mulling for a long time a petition for en banc rehearing from Ohio death row inmates attacking Ohio’s lethal injection protocols.  Now there are two states possibly putting these issues in front of a court that, as detailed here, is deeply divided on death penalty issues.