TENNESSEE (USA): JUDGE BONNYMAN UPHELD THE STATE'S INJECTION PROTOCOL

February 16, 2011: Davidson County Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman upheld the Tennessee's revised execution plan to require the prison warden to confirm that the condemned inmate is rendered unconscious by the first drug injected in a 3-drug cocktail. Judge Bonnyman ruled that the state's plan appears to address concerns that the inmate could be conscious and in severe pain when the later drugs are injected.
Last year the Tennessee Supreme Court halted the executions of 4 prisoners as Bonnyman on Nov. 19 had ruled that the state's lethal injection method was unconstitutional.
Stephen Kissinger, a federal public defender representing death row inmate Stephen Michael West, had said that the state's new method was not effective at determining whether an inmate was awake. Following the today ruling, he said he would likely appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court. (Source: Commercial Appeal, United Press International, 16/02/2011)