Missouri Death Row Inmate Loses Bid for New Execution Method

A Missouri death row inmate who says he faces seizures and pain if the state uses its current drug protocol to execute him lost his effort at the Eighth Circuit to have the state use a novel execution method instead.

An inmate, to prove an Eighth Amendment as-applied challenge to a lethal injection protocol, must show the procedure is very likely to cause him pain and a feasible alternative method is available, the opinion by Judge Steven M. Colloton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said.

The court here previously ruled that Ernest Johnson could challenge ...