USA - Louisiana. Louisiana delays executions until late June 2015

Louisiana delays executions until late June. Louisiana has put state executions on hold until after at least June 25, when legal proceedings over the constitutionality of Louisiana's method of putting prisoners to death will be taken up next in court. Lawyers for Christopher Sepulvado, who was sentenced to death for killing a child, have been challenging Louisiana's lethal injection protocol for the last several months. The state intended to administer the same drug on Sepulvado that was used in botched executions in Ohio and Oklahoma. Questions were raised about whether Louisiana's lethal injection drugs would cause undue pain to Sepulvado and other people killed by the state. The June death penalty delay means the Louisiana Legislature's next session will come and go before another person is executed. Lawmakers took up a few bills that would have altered the proceedings around the death penalty last year, though none ended up passing into law. It's possible execution protocol could change before June as a result of the 2015 session. The Legislature has already set up a committee to examine the cost of carrying out the death penalty. There is also a study underway to research the best ways to administer executions -- possibly looking into alternatives to lethal injection for Louisiana.