Latest death penalty doings

As usual, folks interested in keeping up with all the latest death penalty doings should check out all the action at Capital Defense Weekly and Ohio Death Penalty Information and StandDown Texas Project.  Most interesting is perhaps this AP story detailing that lawyers for a North Carolina death row inmate scheduled to be executed next month has "asked Gov. Mike Easley on Wednesday to stop the execution so that the method for putting prisoners to death can be studied."  Here is more:

Easley should follow the lead of Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, who stopped executions there after a botched execution took 34 minutes for the prisoner to die, defense attorney Geoffrey Hosford said. A federal judge in California imposed a moratorium in that state after Florida halted its executions. "North Carolina follows the same formula as Florida and California," said Hosford, who represents condemned prisoner Marcus Robinson....

Hosford also complained that North Carolina keeps the qualifications and identities of executioners secret and "whether or not the person has any medical training is a question." Defense lawyers are scheduled to meet with Easley on Jan. 17 to request clemency. Hosford said he intends to discuss the pain issue with Easley and to introduce it in court filings.