California Asks Appeals Court To Approve Execution
Government lawyers have asked a federal appeals court to let California carry out its first execution in nearly five years.
Lawyers with the attorney general’s office want the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a Tuesday ruling by a federal judge to block the execution of Albert Greenwood Brown.
The convicted killer had been scheduled to die by lethal injection at 9 p.m. Thursday.
But the judge said he needs more time to determine whether California’s new lethal injection procedure passes constitutional muster.
Government lawyers argue that the regulations were adopted last month after a lengthy bureaucratic process that included public hearings. They say the new lethal injection protocol ensures that condemned inmates will suffer little pain.
