Well, that was quick. Less than an hour ago, the Florida Supreme Court released a ruling saying the court will not hear the latest petition over issues with the new lethal injection drug to be used in Manuel Valle's execution.
Yesterday, Northern Irish neurologist Dr. David Nicholl asked the court to hold off on Valle's execution -- scheduled for tomorrow at 4 p.m. -- by claiming that the Florida Department of Corrections' use of the new sedative drug, pentobarbital, is unlawful.
In its 44-word order, the court dismissed the petition unanimously and said it would not accept a motion for a rehearing on the subject.
If you missed this morning's rundown of the latest petition, click here, or keep reading.
Nicholl's petition was the second to be filed with the Florida Supreme Court over the new drug, but his claims were not the same as the original one filed by Valle's lawyers.
"The Controlled Substances Act prohibits the dispensing of pentobarbital
except for legitimate medical purposes, and the purpose of execution is
not medical," Nicholl's petition states. "It is incontrovertibly
penological."
The first challenge to the use of the drug delayed
Valle's original execution date of August 2, after the Florida Supreme
Court remanded the case to Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jacqueline Hogan
Scola
for a hearing on the constitutionality of pentobarbital.
Scola
ruled that Valle's
defense "failed to present any credible evidence of any risk of needless
suffering," and the Florida Supreme Court unanimously agreed with the
lower court's ruling, declaring the new drug constitutional for inmate
executions in the state.
At the circuit court hearing, the defense's main witness -- an anesthesiologist -- gave
anecdotal evidence about the pain suffered by inmates from other states
who have been subject to lethal injections involving pentobarbital, but
Scola ruled that without some sort of data, "there is no way to know"
exactly how it affects inmates.
Nicholl, on the other hand, was asserting that Floridians have an interest in preventing the
Department of Corrections from undermining the law -- again referring to
the Controlled Substances Act -- saying the state must "either operate
under the law, or demean its authority in the eyes of Florida's
citizens."
A neurologist from Belfast, Northern Ireland, and an
honorary senior lecturer at City Hospital in Birmingham, England,
Nicholl says he has a "direct interest" in Lundbeck, the Danish
drugmaker of pentobarbital.
Aside from using Lundbeck drugs in
clinical practice and having a financial interest in the company,
Nicholl says he also has an ethical interest in the matter.
Petitioner has been directly involved in the movement to prevent the misuse of pentobarbital in executions. Petitioner led a campaign backed by a committee of over 100 neurologists from all over the world against the use of Lundbeck drugs in executions. Petitioner engaged with leading medical journal, the Lancet, exposing the misuse of the drug and calling for distribution changes to be put in place.
Nicholl also argues against the negative consequences for Lundbeck due to the use of the drug "in the barbaric and reprehensible practice of U.S. executions," thus claiming that the company as well as Florida citizens are the losers if Valle gets the juice.
Valle, 61, was convicted of killing a Coral Gables cop in 1978. He's been locked up at the Florida State Prison in Raiford since May 16, 1978, and on death row for just over 30 years now since being sentenced to death on August 4, 1981.
You can read the Florida Supreme Court's brief order here.
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