Judge denies Fla. execution drug challenge

MIAMI -- A judge has denied a Florida death row inmate's challenge to a replacement drug in lethal injections.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jacqueline Hogan Scola ruled Wednesday that using pentobarbital in the execution cocktail is unlikely to expose an inmate to pain and suffering. Scola says the state's medical expert established that pentobarbital alone would be fatal in the planned doses.

The challenge was brought by 61-year-old Manuel Valle. He was convicted of killing a Coral Gables police officer in 1978. An expert testifying for Valle said pentobarbital was untested and could cause pain.

States are using pentobarbital because the sole U.S. manufacturer stopped making the previous widely-used drug, sodium thiopental.  More   PrisonerPal.com   True Crime Today  Magazine Subscriptions for Prisoners since 1975