the judge who effectively shut down California's death row in February...

the judge who effectively shut down California's death row in February said on Friday his ruling on whether the state's use of lethal injection is legal would hinge on evidence of how alert an inmate is as the toxic drugs take effect.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said he would issue his ruling in early November.
Fogel said at the end of a 3-1/2-day hearing on California's lethal injection procedure that he was concerned only with the narrow question of whether a modified three-drug cocktail that would be used to execute condemned inmates violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
At issue in the court challenge is whether condemned inmates would fee excruciating pain from the drugs if they were not fully unconscious.
Fogel stopped the execution of Michael Morales in February to take up claims by lawyers that California's death row inmates faced the possibility of painful executions by lethal injection, instead of a swift death the state claimed.
Fogel asked attorneys for Morales and for the state's Attorney General to file closing arguments by Oct. 27. Fogel said he aimed to issue a decision as soon as possible after November 1. (see also Feb. 7, 17, 21, and Apr. 21, 27)