Washington: State's lethal "cocktail" challenged in death-penalty suit

Lethal-injection drugs administered by the state in carrying out capital-punishment sentences result in cruel and unusual punishment for the condemned, attorneys for 3 death-row inmates argued Thursday. 2 executions and the case of a third man on death row are on hold because of
a civil suit challenging the state Department of Corrections' method of lethal injection. Defense attorneys said they are not arguing to save their clients' lives, only to change the type of heart-stopping medication given to the condemned and who administers them.

"This case is about suffocation and searing pain," said Seattle attorney Scott Englehard, who is representing death-row inmate Jonathan Gentry.

In their opening statements, the inmates' attorneys criticized the state's lethal-injection protocols for lacking supervision by state-licensed doctors and nurses and for insufficient training and medical expertise for the execution-team members.

Englehard honed in on the 3-drug cocktail used by state execution staff, saying only 1 fatal drug should be used. That drug, sodium thiopental, is enough to end a life without the combination of the 2 other drugs, which often yield painful results, he said.

Assistant Attorney General Sara Olson countered by arguing that state protocols are in line with execution methods in Kentucky, whose system was upheld last year by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The suit is being argued before Thurston County Superior Court Judge Chris Wickham, who is expected to release a decision sometime after the 4-day trial.

The case is a combined lawsuit on behalf of 3 death-row inmates: Darold Stenson, who killed his wife and business partner in Clallam County in 1993; Cal Coburn Brown, who tortured and killed a Burien woman in 1991; and Gentry, who killed a 12-year-old girl in Kitsap County in 1988.

Stenson was to have been executed Dec. 3, but his case was stayed pending the lawsuit. In March, Brown was spared hours before he was supposed to enter the death chamber because of the lethal-injection argument.

Stenson, who is spearheading the case, testified Thursday over a Web camera from the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. In his testimony, Stenson focused on his health problems and how the veins in his arms are difficult to find. Stenson said he has diabetes and has to have blood drawn from his hands.

Washington mimics many states by using the three drugs in the death chamber. Sodium thiopental, the 1st drug, is a high-powered barbiturate used for anesthesia. The 2nd drug, pancuronium bromide, paralyzes the muscles with a suffocating effect. The 3rd, potassium chloride, stops the heart.

Englehard said the 3 grams of sodium thiopental given by executioners is enough to kill but takes longer to take effect without the other drugs. The defense attorneys told Wickham their concern with potassium chloride is that it can cause tremendous pain if the inmate is still conscious.

Concerns over the 3-drug cocktail, as well as questions about executioners' medical training, has been heard in courtrooms across the country.

Stenson's defense attorney Sherilyn Peterson grilled Washington State Penitentiary Superintendent Stephen Sinclair on Thursday about the training of execution staff and his own medical training. Sinclair, who has worked in a number of prison positions over the past 20 years, testified that he determines if the inmate being executed is unconscious after the 1st drug is injected.

Last month, the 4-member team responsible for administering lethal injections to death-row inmates at the Washington State Penitentiary resigned out of concern that their identities could become public as part of the Thurston County court case. Sinclair testified Thursday that he has identified several people who could be part of the state's execution team.

Source: The Seattle Times, May 23, 2009