U.S. Supreme Court action …

January 25, 2006 on 10:36 pm | In National legal news | |

A message from someone at the Innocence Project–

Nancy…the USSC will hear Hill’s argument April 26th:

U.S. Supreme Court Halts Execution, Will Hear Appeal (Update1)
Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Supreme Court halted the scheduled
execution of a convicted Florida murderer and agreed to consider his bid
to challenge the state’s method of carrying out death sentences.

Clarence Edward Hill had been scheduled to die by lethal injection
yesterday before Justice Anthony Kennedy issued a last- minute stay of
execution. The full court today extended that stay and said it will hear
arguments in the case in Washington, most likely in April.

Hill contends in his appeal that the three chemicals used by Florida in
its executions “will cause unnecessary pain.'’ He says a 2005 study found
that in 21 of 49 executions around the country, the prisoner endured a
feeling of suffocation and a burning sensation through the veins, followed
by a heart attack.

The case before the justices doesn’t directly consider the method used by
Florida. The court instead will decide whether Hill can make those claims
using a federal civil rights law.

An Atlanta-based federal appeals court, ruling yesterday, said the suit
was barred because it was the “functional equivalent'’ of a so-called
habeas corpus petition, a procedural device used by inmates to challenge
their convictions after appeal.

Under U.S. law, inmates generally can file only a single habeas petition
in federal court — something Hill had already done, the appeals court
said.

Police Officer Death

Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist’s spokeswoman, JoAnn Carrin, wasn’t
immediately available for comment.

Hill, now 48, was convicted of the 1982 shooting death of Pensacola,
Florida, police officer Stephen Taylor. Hill killed Taylor and wounded
another officer after they responded to a bank alarm.

Of the 38 U.S. states that have the death penalty, all but Nebraska use
lethal injection, and most use the same three chemicals as Florida,
according to Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty
Information Center in Washington.

Inmates are first injected with sodium pentothal, an anesthetic, followed
by pancuronium bromide, which causes the lungs to shut down and paralyzes
the body. The final chemical, potassium chloride, then induces a fatal
heart attack.

Florida began using lethal injections in 2000, averting a scheduled
Supreme Court argument on the constitutionality of the state’s use of the
electric chair. Florida now uses lethal injections unless the condemned
person opts for the chair. The state has executed 60 people since the
Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

The case is Hill v. Florida, 05-8794.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: January 25, 2006 15:58 EST