Fla. Supreme Court Lifts Valle Stay of Execution

The stay of execution imposed on death row inmate Manuel Valle, a convicted cop killer, has been lifted by the Florida Supreme Court.

Valle, who has spent more than 30 years on death row for murdering a police officer in Broward County in 1978, appealed for the stay, claiming a switch in one drug in the three-drug cocktail used by Florida for lethal injections would subject him to pain, consituting a violation of the Eighth Amendment's protection against "cruel and unusual" punishment.

The Department of Corrections, in its lethal injection protocol set out June 8, switched sodium thiopental, the usual first drug in the injection sequence, with pentobarbital sodium. Valle was originally scheduled to be executed Aug. 2, but the stay was imposed July 25.

The matter was considered by a circuit court, which heard evidence from doctors for Valle and the state, as well as witness of executions in Alabama and Georgia that went awry. The circuit court found no reason to halt the execution, and Tuesday Florida Supreme Court justices upheld the lower court's ruling.

"After receiving this evidence, the circuit court denied relief, concluding that the substitution of pentobarbital as an anesthetic did not violate the Eighth Amendment becasue the evidence failed to establish that the intravenous administration of pentobarbital creates a substantial risk of serious harm. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm the circuit court's denial," states part of the 44-page decision.

When the stay was originally imposed, Valle's new execution date was set for no sooner than Sept. 2.