Suitably Flip

From Miscarriage of Justice To Full-Fledged Travesty

With 6 hours remaining before the expiration of his death warrant, brutal rapist and murderer Michael Morales has just had his execution postponed indefinitely.

The execution was originally scheduled for 12:01 a.m. today but was postponed when two anesthesiologists withdrew their agreement to monitor the injections and make sure Morales was unconscious as he was being put to death.

The state then proposed to execute Morales with a massive dose of the barbiturate sodium pentothal, which it said would render him unconscious quickly and cause death within 30 to 45 minutes.

But U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel imposed further conditions to prevent a botched and painful execution: the drug would have to be administered by a licensed professional and injected directly into the prisoner's vein, rather than flowing through an intravenous tube from outside the death chamber.

About two hours before the scheduled execution, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it had been advised that the state could not comply and that the execution would not take place Tuesday.

For a third crack at Morales, the state of California now has to obtain a new death warrant, an effort which could take a month or longer or could fail altogether.

Previously:  Why Is This Man Still Alive?

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From Miscarriage of Justice To Full-Fledged Travesty

With 6 hours remaining before the expiration of his death warrant, brutal rapist and murderer Michael Morales has just had his execution postponed indefinitely.

The execution was originally scheduled for 12:01 a.m. today but was postponed when two anesthesiologists withdrew their agreement to monitor the injections and make sure Morales was unconscious as he was being put to death.

The state then proposed to execute Morales with a massive dose of the barbiturate sodium pentothal, which it said would render him unconscious quickly and cause death within 30 to 45 minutes.

But U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel imposed further conditions to prevent a botched and painful execution: the drug would have to be administered by a licensed professional and injected directly into the prisoner's vein, rather than flowing through an intravenous tube from outside the death chamber.

About two hours before the scheduled execution, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it had been advised that the state could not comply and that the execution would not take place Tuesday.

For a third crack at Morales, the state of California now has to obtain a new death warrant, an effort which could take a month or longer or could fail altogether.

Previously:  Why Is This Man Still Alive?