California's defense of its lethal injection protocol

As detailed in this Los Angeles Times article, California officials are robustly defending their lethal injection protocol in the federal litigation that has halted executions in the state.  Here are the basics:

The California attorney general's office issued a ringing defense of the state's lethal injection procedure Thursday, maintaining in a court brief that "there is no evidence that any prior execution resulted in the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain." The state's brief was filed with U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel, who conducted a four-day hearing in September examining the contentions of death row inmate Michael Morales that California's lethal injection protocol violates the constitutional bar against cruel and unusual punishment.  Fogel is expected to rule this year on the constitutionality of the state's procedure.