Court Rulings Stall California Executions Indefinitely
The price tag is rising, too
SAN FRANCISCO — California may be stymied for years to come in its efforts to resume executions as a result of a new court ruling, bureaucratic requirements and difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs, advocates on both sides of the death penalty said Friday.
Supporters of capital punishment urged Gov. Brown to challenge a state appeals court's unanimous decision against California's lethal injection protocol, even though an appeal could take years. They also called on the governor to introduce a new single-drug execution method for public vetting.
"This should be attacked on every front," said Kent S. Scheidigger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation. "We have had justice held up for a preposterous seven years now."
Opponents of the death penalty expressed doubt the state could ever restart the death chamber at San Quentin State Prison.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
Well NO WONDER the California prisons are so overcrowded!