As court reviews Kentucky case, other states hold off on executions

Published: 2007-11-16

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- It may only continue for a matter of months, but an effective moratorium on executions has spread across the United States while the Supreme Court considers whether the most commonly used combination of drugs for lethal injections constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. More than a dozen states have formally or informally stopped the process of executions until after the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of lethal injection in a case from Kentucky, Baze v. Rees. Oral arguments in the case will be heard after the first of the year and a ruling should come before summer. Uncertainty about the constitutionality of the procedure used by most of the 38 states that have the death penalty has led judges or other authorities in 20 states and the federal government to put executions on hold pending the ruling. As of Nov. 16, there had been no executions since the court announced Sept. 25 that it would hear the case. On Nov. 15 the Supreme Court stayed Mark Dean Schwab's execution by the state of Florida just four hours before he was scheduled for lethal injection. State courts and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals had said it could proceed.

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .