Lethal Injection Is On Hold in 2 States

The decisions in California and Florida on Friday come amid rising debate in other states.

In Maryland, a federal judge is considering the constitutionality of lethal injection. A ruling is expected next year. Officials in Missouri and South Dakota have delayed executions while lethal injection is reviewed. Oklahoma altered its procedure so that the prisoner receives more anesthesia before being executed. And in North Carolina, a federal judge ordered that a brain monitor be used to make sure an inmate is unconscious before the final drug is administered.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed another Florida death-row inmate to challenge that state's lethal-injection procedures through a federal civil rights lawsuit, a ruling considered a procedural victory for opponents of the death penalty.

Richard C. Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit group critical of capital punishment, pointed out that although the California ruling does not end the death penalty there, it "may be influential."

"What it may mean is the Supreme Court will have to step in and decide," Dieter said.

Diaz's death took more than twice as long as most executions in Florida, where death generally occurs within 15 minutes. More than 20 minutes after the first injection, Diaz appeared to be mouthing words, clenching his jaw and grimacing. A second dose was administered.

Diaz was executed for murdering the manager of a Miami topless bar in 1979.

The halt to executions in Florida could end as soon as March 1, when the commission assigned to study lethal-injection procedures is expected to file a final report.

In the California case, attorneys for condemned murderer Michael A. Morales had argued that because inmates are paralyzed by the drugs, witnesses cannot be sure the convicts are unconscious when they are executed -- meaning they may be in terrible pain. The court agreed in February and ordered corrections officials to either stop using the two drugs or provide doctors to ensure Morales was unconscious.

Two anesthesiologists agreed to observe, and Morales's execution was underway when, in a last-minute decision, the doctors backed out after an appeals court ruled they would have to step in if anything went wrong.

Since then, Fogel has held extensive hearings on how executions are conducted.

He ultimately found that executioners were not properly trained and made mistakes in administering the drugs and that California's execution chamber is poorly suited to its purpose.

The state's "implementation of lethal injection is broken, but it can be fixed," Fogel wrote.

Geis reported from Los Angeles.