New execution procedure approved

The Council of State voted this morning to approve prison officials' plans to have a doctor play a more limited role in executions.

Despite the council's approval, many believe that it could be some time before executions resume in North Carolina.

"I think it's going to be back in the courts and be litigated for a substantial period of time," said Gov. Mike Easley, who during the meeting repeatedly called the current situation a "moratorium" on executions.

The nine-member panel of top statewide elected officials also approved a non-binding resolution asking the state legislature to take a look at the issue. It is unknown whether lawmakers will do that after a key group of lawmakers passed on the opportunity Monday to introduce a bill suspending executions to study questions about lethal injection.

Easley and the council had to sign off on prison officials' plans to have a doctor play a more limited role in executions, according to a Wake judge who halted three executions.

Three Democratic members of the council -- Insurance Commissioner Jim Long, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and state schools superintendent June Atkinson -- voted against approving the plan by prison officials.

Several council members expressed frustration that this issue was being brought before them.

"This body is not equipped to have a policy discussion," said State Treasurer Richard Moore. "We're not even allowed to hear from people. North Carolina deserves to have an honest debate on the death penalty. This is not the place to have it."

The council heard from lawyers with the N.C. Attorney General's Office, and briefly from Correction Secretary Theodis Beck. Lawyers for the inmates whose executions have been stayed requested a chance to speak, but were denied by David McCoy, state budget director and secretary to the council. McKoy wrote in a letter that the meeting was not a public hearing.

What happens next is unclear, but the issue will likely head back before a Wake Superior Court judge.

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper indicated his office wanted the protocol approved before they initiate discussions with the N.C. Medical Board about its new ethics policy that prohibits doctors' participation in execution.

"The purpose of bringing this today was to bring something to them," Cooper said.

Cooper's staff may negotiate a resolution with the medical board or may have to sue the board to have a judge decide if the "execution protocol" has to comply with the new ethics policy. Even once that is resolved, the judge has to determine if the new protocol is constitutional or puts inmates at risk of experiencing cruel and unusual punishment.

Last month, lawyers for the inmates went to court saying prison officials could not guarantee an inmate was fully sedated before lethal drugs were injected because a doctor was no longer monitoring a brain--wave monitor. Without a doctor's involvement, the lawyers argued, the execution would not be constitutional.

Previously, a federal judge had allowed executions in North Carolina to go forward because a doctor was involved to make sure the inmate was adequately sedated.

However, last month, the N.C. Medical Board passed a new ethics policy that allows doctors to be present but does not allow them to do anything, such as monitoring vital signs. To comply, prison officials said a nurse and a paramedic would instead monitor vital signs.

The Wake judge believed that was a significant change to the "qualified personnel" involved in carrying out executions, which a state law requires the governor and council to approve.

North Carolina has joined a growing number of states, including Florida, California and Tennessee, where the death penalty has been halted amid questions surrounding lethal injection.