By RHONDA COOK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA, Ga. — Two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled lethal injection constitutional, a Georgia Death Row inmate is asking a federal judge to rule the specific dosages Georgia administers to the condemned are not enough to prevent a torturous death.
Attorneys for the state say Georgia goes to great lengths to ensure death comes without unnecessary pain.
They claim the method and drug combinations have been tested and found to be the best way to carry out capital punishment.
Georgia has used this method for executions since 2000.
Both sides have filed motions, asking U.S. District Judge Beverly Martin to rule on Jack Alderman’s lawsuit without a trial, based on hours of depositions and evidence collected so far.
Alderman’s lawyers argued they have proven that the Department of Corrections’ execution team is not trained to administer the drugs.
They say the levels of the sedative sodium pentothal is too low and not enough time is allowed for it to take effect before the administration of the other two drugs in the cocktail --- pancuronium bromide, a muscle relaxer that stops breathing, and potassium chloride, which causes cardiac arrest.
Alderman’s attorneys say they have shown the first drug dosage was so small it is “wholly insufficient to render an inmate properly anesthesized.” They say there is a high risk the condemned suffers but cannot relay that information because he has been paralyzed.
On the other side of the debate, the state’s attorneys say the method Georgia uses is the same one applied in 34 other states.
The Department of Corrections simply copied the procedures already developed and tested elsewhere.
“The department adopted the drugs commonly and successfully used throughout the country,” the state wrote.
“The department then adopted drug dosages that are, without dispute, considered excessive ... and deadly.”
Copyright 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution