US top court to consider use of gas on death row inmate

The US Supreme Court agreed Monday to rule on whether the state of Missouri should use gas as an alternative to a lethal injection to execute a convicted murderer-rapist with a rare congenital disease. The top US court has halted Russell Bucklew's execution twice before, most recently last month after his lawyers argued that a lethal injection could cause intense suffering. The US Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, and a series of botched executions with lethal injections has spurred debate over the constitutionality of this most common method for putting inmates to death in the United States.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2FwXh9U