Nation - Kentucky State alters execution protocol after first public hearing

By Brett Barrouquere Associated Press Writer LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky has revised it's proposed lethal injection protocol, removing the possibility that a condemned inmate will have deadly chemicals injected into his neck if attempts to find other veins fail. The changes by the Kentucky Public Safety and Justice Cabinet come less than a month after the first public hearing on the state's execution protocol. Other changes include the state agreeing to include details about the handling of the chemicals used, and how to stop the execution of an inmate who drops his appeals and volunteers to die, but changes his mind once the process starts. The Kentucky Supreme Court in November halted executions until the state readopted it's protocol. Gov. Steve Beshear has the final say on whether to put the new regulations in place and conduct executions again. Comments during the Jan. 29 hearing ranged from outright calls to abolish the death penalty to tweaking the mechanics. Some of the proposed changes were technical, such as whether an attorney may bring a pen and paper when visiting the condemned on the day of execution, while others revised definitions of mental health workers and volunteers for execution. In response to multiple comments, the Justice Cabinet cited the U.S. Supreme Court's 2007 decision upholding the state's lethal injection protocol as constitutional as reasons for not making some of the suggested changes to the protocol. David Barron, a public defender who represents multiple death row inmates, said citing the high court's decision doesn't answer the concerns. "They punted the issue instead of considering improving aspects of the chemicals. They thought it was OK to keep the status quo when this process is about improvement rather than the bare baselines of what is legal," Barron said. Death row inmate Michael St. Clair, who is challenging his convictions in a 1991 kidnapping and killing, said the protocol deprives death row inmates of rights other inmates have, such as receiving last rites before dying. Under the protocol, death row inmates are not allowed contact visits with anyone on the day of execution, preventing some religious rituals from taking place. "What do they want us to do? Go straight to hell?" St. Clair told The Associated Press. Deleting the provision that allowed the execution team to insert an IV line into an inmate's neck came in response to a five-year-old judge's order prohibiting the act. The most significant alterations, though, came in detailing how the three drugs used in an execution -- sodium thiopental, a fast-acting sedative; pancuronium bromide, which causes paralysis; and potassium chloride, which causes cardiac arrest -- are handled. Previously, little was made public about who ordered the chemicals and how they were handled. The proposed protocol now details how the Kentucky State Penitentiary warden tracks the supply of chemicals, orders more if needed and is the only keeper of the keys to the cooler where the chemicals are stored. The revised protocol also calls for the warden to halt an execution if an inmate who previously volunteered has a change of heart once the process starts. Under the new regulations, the inmate would be allowed to contact his attorney and the warden would notify the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Commissioner, who would speak with the governor. The older protocol did not address that situation, even though two of the three men executed by Kentucky since 1997 were volunteers. At least one death row inmate, 56-year-old Leif Halvorsen, condemned for three killings in Lexington in 1983, offered a written comment. Halvorsen questioned the part of the protocol dealing with what happens to an inmate's property, money and remains after the execution. The Justice Cabinet made few changes to that section of the protocol. The proposed protocol also adds details to how an electrocution would be conducted, as well as how to handle a pregnant death row inmate. Published: Thu, Feb 18, 2010

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