KENTUCKY (USA): SUPREME COURT TEMPORARILY SUSPENDS EXECUTIONS

November 25, 2009: Kentucky may not execute anyone until it adopts regulations in compliance with the law, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled today. The court ruling came in the case of 3 death row inmates – Thomas C. Bowling, Ralph Baze and Brian Keith Moore – who were challenging the state's lethal injection protocol. In its 35-page ruling, the court said the state Department of Corrections must follow state-mandated administrative procedures before adopting the current lethal injection process of a three-drug cocktail.
It also said the state should have held public hearings on the process. "The Department of Corrections is required by Kentucky law to promulgate a regulation as to all portions of the lethal injection protocol except those limited issues of internal management that are purely of concern to department personnel," the high court said.
It identified "limited issues of internal management" as identities of the execution team, storage location of the drugs and other security-related issues. (Sources: Herald-Leader, 25/11/2009)