USA - Alabama. The Alabama Supreme Court held today that the state's use of lethal injection is constitutional

Alabama Supreme Court upholds method as legal. Ruling on a case from Marshall County, the Alabama Supreme Court held today that the state's use of lethal injection on death row does not violate the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment. The high court's ruling in an 8-0 vote affirmed the death sentence of Rick Allen Belisle, who was convicted in the May 19, 1999, murder of Joyce Moore. Although the court examined several issues raised on appeal by Belisle's attorneys, the gist of the 42-page opinion, written by Associate Justice Harold See, focused on its decision on the lethal-injection question. In rejecting the argument that Alabama's method of lethal injection violates the Constitution's 8th Amendment, the court cited the U.S. Supreme Court's affirmation of the constitutionality of Kentucky's 3-drug protocol, which is virtually the same as Alabama's. Belisle, 39, has been on death row at Holman Correctional Facility since Aug. 29, 2003.