USA - North Carolina. House passed HB 774 aimed at resuming executions

House passed 84-33 HB 774 aimed at resuming executions in the state after a nine-year break by removing the requirement that a doctor be present at all lethal injections. The state has not executed any inmates since 2006, in part due to conflicts with the state’s medical board, which has threatened to punish physicians who participate in a prisoner's death. The new legislation would also allow nurses, physician assistants or paramedics to oversee lethal injections. The measure still has to pass the state Senate, whose leader supports capital punishment but could not be reached on Wednesday for comment about the current legislation. Republican Governor Pat McCrory has not indicated whether he would sign the bill into law. Elizabeth Hambourger, an attorney with the state's Center for Death Penalty Litigation, questioned the timing of the House move. The state's longest serving death row inmate was recently exonerated. (see Henry Lee McCollum on Sept. 3, 2014). “There are so many problems with the death penalty that are gaining exposure, to want to restart executions at this time seems like the opposite of what we ought to be doing,” she said. “We should be taking a hard look at it instead.”