Ruling may not lead NC to resume executions

RALEIGH -- The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to approve a widely used method of lethal injection may not be enough to bring an immediate end to North Carolina's unofficial moratorium on the death penalty.

Issued Wednesday, the ruling from the nation's high court signed off on the procedures used in Kentucky, where three drugs are used to sedate, paralyze and kill inmates. Similar methods are used by roughly three dozen states, including North Carolina.

But neither of the lingering legal challenges to North Carolina's death penalty -- which have effectively kept execution on hold for more than year -- are addressed directly addressed by Wednesday's ruling.

A spokeswoman for State Attorney General Roy Cooper said attorneys are studying the Supreme Court ruling and trying to determine how it may affect North Carolina.

"We've got attorneys who are studying the ruling and are trying to determine how it may impact North Carolina," said Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Roy Cooper.

The state last put an inmate to death in August 2006, when Samuel Flippen was executed in 1995 for the murder of his two-year-old stepdaughter. Since then, five executions have been put on hold as part of a complex set of legal challenges to the state's death penalty procedures. A sixth execution was halted because of questions about the inmate's mental competence.

In January 2007, Wake County Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens stayed several executions after state officials altered the death penalty protocol to satisfy the orders of a federal judge, who demanded a physician monitor the process ensure the condemned inmate did not suffer.

Stephens citing a century old law that required the Council of State -- a body of the state's top elected officials -- to approve any change in the process of executing an inmate.

The Council of State went on to approve the change, but attorneys for death row inmates argued the panel didn't adequately consider public input before making the decision. An administrative law judge agreed, but the Council of State declined to accept the judge's conclusion. Attorneys for the inmates are appealing that decision.

Meanwhile, the state medical board adopted a policy in January 2007 that threatened to punish those physicians who take part in executions. Cooper's office sued, and Stephens ruled in September the board had overstepped its authority. That decision is also being appealed.

Thomas Maher, a former criminal defense attorney who is now executive director of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham, said he doesn't expect North Carolina will resume executions until those legal issues are resolved.

"I would think it would still be some period of time before executions begin again in North Carolina," Maher said.

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