Lethal Injection Ruling
UC Davis law professor Bill Ong Hing provided comments to The Associated Press on a federal judge's ruling that California's lethal injection method is unconstitutionally cruel.
Hing said the ruling will have little impact on most of the state's death row inmates and that the state of California is not likely to appeal a federal judge's decision decrying California's method of lethal injection.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ordered the moratorium when he called off the execution of convicted murderer Michael Morales of Stockton, amid concerns that condemned inmates might suffer excruciating deaths. He later gave the state 30 days to decide whether to revise the procedures and suggest a timeline for implementation, which legal experts said could take a year or longer.
"The writing is on the wall," Hing said. "There is a problem here, and the state has got to fix that problem. There's too much evidence out there that lethal injections aren't what they were thought to be--efficient and painless."
Hing is a member of the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, studying, in part, the extent to which failures in the administration of criminal justice have resulted in wrongful executions. He teaches judicial process, a course on criminal justice, and how the system operates.
The Associated Press/December 16, 2006
Hing said the ruling will have little impact on most of the state's death row inmates and that the state of California is not likely to appeal a federal judge's decision decrying California's method of lethal injection.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ordered the moratorium when he called off the execution of convicted murderer Michael Morales of Stockton, amid concerns that condemned inmates might suffer excruciating deaths. He later gave the state 30 days to decide whether to revise the procedures and suggest a timeline for implementation, which legal experts said could take a year or longer.
"The writing is on the wall," Hing said. "There is a problem here, and the state has got to fix that problem. There's too much evidence out there that lethal injections aren't what they were thought to be--efficient and painless."
Hing is a member of the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, studying, in part, the extent to which failures in the administration of criminal justice have resulted in wrongful executions. He teaches judicial process, a course on criminal justice, and how the system operates.
The Associated Press/December 16, 2006