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Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Ind. Decisions - Still more on Timberlake execution date and process

This Dec. 28th ILB entry quoted a LCJ story that:

Lawyers for a New Albany man scheduled to be put to death next month for the 1993 murder of an Indiana state trooper have asked a federal court to delay the execution.

The filing asks the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis to consider whether Norman Timberlake, 59, is insane and therefore does not qualify for the death penalty.

The entry also quoted from a letter in the Indianapolis Star which noted that execution by lethal injection had recently been halted in several other states.

Today the AP is reporting:

A New Albany man facing execution this month for the shooting death of a state trooper has filed a federal lawsuit claiming he would suffer unnecessarily during the lethal injection procedure.

Attorneys for Norman Timberlake, 59, filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. The suit asks for a preliminary injunction and restraining order stopping the execution, which is scheduled for Jan. 19 at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. * * *

The lawsuit claims that the three-drug cocktail commonly used by Indiana in lethal injections is not calibrated according to the inmate’s size or medical history, so Timberlake could suffer unnecessarily.

The South Bend Tribune today has a letter that begins:
In recent weeks, a botched execution caused the governor of Florida to halt executions there and order an investigation into Florida's lethal injection process; a federal court in California found that state's lethal injection process violates the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, effectively imposing a moratorium; and Maryland's highest court ordered that state to open its lethal injection protocols for public scrutiny. These developments follow a study that found some of those executed by lethal injection were probably subjected to excruciating pain.
See also this report from the Indianapolis Star.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 3, 2007 03:56 PM
Posted to Ind. Sup.Ct. Decisions