Kentucky to hold hearings as it tries to re-adopt execution method

Kentucky plans to keep using a three-drug lethal injection on death-row inmates and won't use Ohio's novel 1-drug overdose method, as officials work through legal hurdles so executions can resume in the state.

Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet spokeswoman Jennifer Brislin said on Monday that the current protocol will be put through public hearings as the state seeks to comply with a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling.

"We're filing to put our existing protocol into place," Brislin said.

The state's high court ruled 4-3 last month that Kentucky didn't properly adopt its lethal injection protocol and barred any executions until the method was readopted.

Kentucky injects condemned inmates with sodium thiopental, a fast-acting sedative; pancuronium bromide, which causes paralysis; and potassium chloride, which causes cardiac arrest.

Ohio on Tuesday became the first state to use an overdose of a single drug to execute an inmate, 51-year-old Kenneth Biros. It switched to the method after a botched execution in September.

Kentucky's process for approving its protocol includes a public hearing as well as a chance for the public to comment by e-mail or letter.

The Department of Corrections then can respond to those comments. It's ultimately up to Gov. Steve Beshear to re-adopt the procedure.

Kentucky has 35 death-row inmates. Its most recent execution was in November 2008.

Source: Associated Press, December 10, 2009

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