in Kansas City, U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan...

in Kansas City, U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan ruled that Missouri officials must revise the state's death penalty procedures to better ensure that the three-drug execution method does not violate the constitutional guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment. (see also June 26, 2006, and July 13, 14, 24).
Judge Gaitan gave the state until Oct. 27 to submit a new protocol for executing inmates.
This will be the 2nd revision the state has given Gaitan since he ordered in June that the Missouri Department of Corrections make sweeping changes to its execution protocol.
At issue is how painful execution from lethal injection can be. If a cocktail of drugs is not given correctly, an inmate could be in "torturous" pain but paralyzed and unable to show it, Gaitan ruled.
In his ruling Tuesday, Gaitan laid out eight provisions the state must meet to make its execution protocol acceptable. He pointed out the state has already met some of them.
The case arose when convicted murderer Michael Taylor sued the state, claiming his scheduled execution in February would be unconstitutionally cruel.
Gaitan ruled in favor of the state on one point, backtracking on his previous order for Missouri to hire a board-certified anesthesiologist to mix the lethal drugs and to administer or monitor the execution process.
State officials said they couldn't find an anesthesiologist for the job. Instead, the state suggested hiring a specially trained physician to oversee the process.
Gaitan said in the ruling he would accept that plan, but that the state must select a physician in good standing with the Missouri licensing board and who has not faced any disciplinary action from the board.
Gaitan specifically ruled that the state could not use its previous medical expert, Jefferson City surgeon Alan Doerhoff. Gaitan said Doerhoff - identified as "John Doe No. 1" in court papers - could not participate "in any manner, at any level, in the State of Missouri's lethal injection process."
Doerhoff stoked Gaitan's concerns over Missouri's executions when he acknowledged in court he is dyslexic, but still oversaw executions and determined dosages of drugs used for lethal injection.
Doerhoff's identity is kept secret in court documents, but he has since acknowledged he assisted in dozens of executions. In July, Doerhoff denied he is dyslexic.