Federal district judge halts executions in Tennessee

As detailed in posts at Crime & Consequences and StandDown Texas Project and this AP story, a “federal judge ruled Wednesday that Tennessee’s new lethal injection procedures are cruel and unusual punishment, interrupting plans to execute a killer next week.”   The lengthy ruling in Harbison v. Little is available here.  Here is the conclusion:

For the reasons stated herein, the court finds that the plaintiff’s pending execution under Tennessee’s new lethal injection protocol violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  The new protocol presents a substantial risk of unnecessary pain; that risk was know to Commissioner Little, and yet disregarded.  Accordingly, the court will enter judgment in favor of the plaintiff and enter injunctive relief against the defendants, barring them from executing the plaintiff under the new protocol.

Given the Sixth Circuit’s history of split rulings on various death penalty issues, it will be interesting to see what happens to this case on (an inevitable?) appeal.