[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- KENTUCKY (temp. stay)

[Joerg Sommer]

death penalty news

November 23, 2004


KENTUCKY:  ! ! T E M P O R A R Y    S T A Y ! !

Temporary injunction blocks Bowling execution

A judge on Tuesday granted a request to block the execution scheduled next 
week for a condemned inmate while his legal challenge to Kentucky's method 
of conducting lethal injections is pending.

Franklin County Circuit Judge Roger Crittenden said Thomas Clyde Bowling's 
case "raised a substantial legal question" about the way Kentucky carries 
out executions. He said he would issue a temporary injunction.

Attorneys for Bowling argued that Kentucky does not have in place 
procedures that would guarantee the inmate does not suffer cruel and 
unusual punishment.

Bowling and another Death Row inmate, Ralph Baze, filed the suit in August. 
Bowling was convicted of murdering a young couple in Lexington in 1990. 
Earlier this month his execution was set for Nov. 30.

Ted Shouse, a Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy attorney who argued 
the case for Bowling, said he expected Crittenden's ruling would be 
appealed. Still, Crittenden's ruling "recognized that there are serious 
problems" with the way Kentucky administers death by lethal injection, 
Shouse said.

Shouse claims there is evidence that anesthesia wears off quickly, and 
inmates may be awake when the fatal chemicals are injected.

"The court today recognized that there are serious problems with the 
method, the manner, of execution in Kentucky," Shouse told reporters after 
the hearing.

Department of Corrections Commissioner John D. Rees issued a statement 
saying the state was "following the guidance of the court." While the 
ruling temporarily blocks the execution on Nov. 30, the department is 
"continuing with our preparations until we have a definitive resolution," 
Rees said in the statement.

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Greg Stumbo declined an immediate 
comment on Crittenden's ruling.

In a separate proceeding related to Bowling's execution, the Kentucky 
Supreme Court was to hear arguments later Tuesday on whether to stop the 
execution while it is determined if Bowling is mentally retarded. The U.S. 
Supreme Court has ruled it is unconstitutional to execute the mentally 
retarded.

(source: AP)


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Bowling gets stay of execution after questions raised about protocol

A Franklin Circuit Court judge stayed the planned Nov. 30 execution of 
Death Row inmate Thomas Clyde Bowling Jr. on Tuesday, saying questions 
about the state's execution protocol should be answered before a death 
sentence is carried out.

Defense lawyers said they found inconsistencies between state corrections 
department actions during executions and a document that says what should 
be done during executions.

The state attorney general's office said it probably will appeal Judge 
Roger Crittenden's decision. The execution could go ahead as planned if an 
appeals court were to hear the case and make a decision before Nov. 30.

Bowling, 51, was sentenced to die in 1991 for killing Tina and Eddie Earley 
in front of their Lexington dry-cleaning business in April 1990.

For more on this story, see Wednesday's Herald-Leader.

(source: Lexington Herald-Leader)