EKB News

KENTUCKY....
Ohio and Washington are the only two states to use one drug to execute condemned inmates. Public defender David Barron, a defense attorney representing multiple Kentucky death row inmates, says Ohio's successful use of one dose of sodium thiopental to execute inmates is proof there are safer, quicker and less painful methods of carrying out a death sentence. Barron wants Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd to consider if the state's three-drug protocol is unconstitutionally cruel. Barron filed suit Friday asking Shepherd to reopen an ongoing challenge to Kentucky's method and consider forcing the state to put a one-drug execution protocol in place. If he's successful, Kentucky could be forced to switch to a one-drug execution method. Kentucky has argued against a one-drug protocol, saying it was unproven and could take longer to induce death.