USA - California. New Death Penalty Rules Rejected by California Court. With no legal method for lethal injection, state must keep delaying executions.

New Death Penalty Rules Rejected by California Court. With no legal method for lethal injection, state must keep delaying executions. Death penalty opponents and the attorneys for 2 condemned men at San Quentin won another round in their quest to delay executions in California when the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco held that newly revised rules for administering lethal injections are illegal. The ruling means the execution chamber is likely to remain idle through much of 2009, if not longer, pending a likely appeal to the California Supreme Court and possibly another lengthy review and redrafting of the procedures. Executions have been officially suspended since December 2006, when U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose ruled that the state's method of administering the 3-drug lethal injection cocktail amounted to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger assigned a task force last year to draw up protocols that ensure the condemned don't suffer excessive pain when put to death. Before Fogel could pass judgment on whether the new procedures were acceptable, attorneys for death row inmates Michael Morales and Mitchell Sims challenged the legality of the measures because they hadn't been submitted for public comment, as required by state law. A year ago, Marin County Judge Lynn O'Malley Taylor deemed the execution procedures illegal for their lack of public scrutiny and review by an independent state agency. State Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown appealed, which led to Friday's ruling upholding Taylor's judgment. Brown's office was asked if it planned to appeal to the state high court, but did not respond immediately.