in San Francisco, lawyers for Donald Beardslee argued to the 9th...

in San Francisco, lawyers for Donald Beardslee argued to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the lethal injection he faces next week is cruel and unusual, and violates the First Amendment right of speech. 
Beardslee, in what is believed to be the first challenge of its kind to lethal injection, alleged that the combination of a sedative and a paralyzing agent would mask whether he is experiencing excruciating pain, would prohibit him from crying out and prevent public witnesses to the execution from seeing him contort, a violation of the First Amendment. "This drug will serve the purpose of masking this pain," argued Alan Schlosser, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer. He said it could also prevent the 2 dozen public witnesses from viewing "movement that might be unpleasant and unsightly." Beardslee, now 61, was convicted of killing Paula Geddling and Stacey Benjamin in 1981 to get even for a soured drug deal. The case argued Wednesday is Beardslee v. Woodford, 05-15042.