The Georgia Senate approved replacing electrocution...

The Georgia Senate approved replacing electrocution with lethal injection as the state's execution method. The Senate voted 44-3 to change the method of execution from the electric chair to lethal injection for people sentenced to death for crimes committed after May 1. The bill approved by the Senate differs slightly from the version that passed the House last month. The House had voted 162-10 to change the method of execution. This vote came after debate that focused on abolishing the death penalty where they voted 158-15 to reject the measure. The Senate and the House will have to agree on a final version of the bill before it can go to Gov. Roy Barnes. Georgia, Alabama and Nebraska are the only states that rely exclusively on electrocution to carry out the death penalty. At the request of the Medical Association of Georgia, the Senate added that no physician could be required to participate in carrying out the lethal injection. ''I don't care how we execute them. Let's just execute them,'' said Senate Minority Leader Eric Johnson, a Republican. The bill would phase out the electric chair, which has been the sole means of execution in Georgia since 1924. Prisoners sentenced to death for crimes committed before May 1 would be put to death by electrocution unless the state or U.S. Supreme Court declares the electric chair unconstitutional. That fear is what prompted the proposed change in Georgia's execution process.