Judge rules against lethal injection procedure

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - A federal judge has declared Tennessee's procedure to execute inmates by lethal injection puts them at risk of a painful death, and canceled next week's scheduled execution of a 52-year-old inmate.

The ruling supported convicted murderer Edward Harbison's appeal that lethal injection violated his constitutional right not to endure cruel and unusual punishment.

Harbison, who was sentenced to death for the 1983 beating death of a woman during a burglary, was due to be executed in the early morning hours of September 26.

U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger's ruling on Wednesday said Tennessee's newly revised execution protocol left open the possibility that the lethal three-drug cocktail could present "a substantial risk of unnecessary pain," and was therefore unconstitutional.

If anesthesia were not properly administered it could "result in a terrifying, excruciating death," she ruled.

Opponents of lethal injection say the condemned inmate's suffering is masked by a paralyzing drug used in the procedure. But death penalty supporters say opponents are using that argument as a way to halt executions.

The federal government and nine of the 37 U.S. states that employ lethal injection have halted executions because of the issue, which awaits a definitive court ruling, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Tennessee's lethal injection protocol was revised under an order issued in February by Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, who suspended executions for 90 days.

The state executed Philip Workman, who was convicted of killing a policeman, by lethal injection in May, and last week executed convicted child killer Daryl Holton, who chose the option of dying in the electric chair.