Remember the state’s stubbornly held stance that it didn’t have to publicly vet its death penalty protocol? Well if you do, never mind.
The governor and corrections leaders have changed course and decided that they will submit California’s lethal injection procedures for review under the Administrative Procedure Act. The move, first reported in the San Jose Mercury News last month, was confirmed by the Department of Corrections over the weekend.
Seth Unger, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said allowing the review is the “most expeditious” way of restoring the death penalty in California.
Share your thoughts on the death penalty with the state, after the jump.
Capital punishment in California has been on hold since 2006 when U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel declared the state’s system for administering a lethal cocktail “broken.”
The governor instituted new death chamber procedures in 2007 but attorneys for convicted killer Michael Morales sued, arguing that the revamped policies should have had a public vetting first. A Marin County court agreed and the First District Court of Appeal affirmed the ruling last November.
Unger said corrections officials still disagree with the appellate ruling and are seeking to have it depublished.
“But we’re working to make sure the moratorium is lifted,” he said, “to comply with the will of the people of California.”
The administrative review could take anywhere from six months to a year depending on the number of public comments received, Unger said. Corrections officials must respond to every comment, he said.
— Cheryl Miller
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