Manuel Valle Execution Postponed One Month

The execution of Manuel Valle, convicted of murdering a police officer in Broward County in 1978, has been postponed at least one month to hear arguments over Florida's "lethal injection protocol," the Florida Supreme Court has ruled.

Valle's lawyers asked for a hearing about the state's lethal injection method,which uses three drugs, the first of which is supposed to guard against the pain that subsequent drugs bring to induce death. A protocal set forth by the Department of Corrections changed the first drug from sodium thiopental to pentobarbital sodium. Valle disputed the effectiveness of the new drug in preventing pain.

"The court has determined that Valle's claim as to the use of pentobarbital as an anesthetic in the amount prescribed by Florida's protocol warrants an evidentiary hearing," the ruling states.

The ruling means a hearing in a lower court will be held to determine the injection protocol, pushing back Valle's execution date from Aug. 2 to at least after Sept. 1. Valle's death warrant is the first signed by Gov. Rick Scott.

Chief Justice Charles Canady and two other justices dissented from the majority, claiming Valle's argument about the drug was merely "speculative."

"Because Valle has not raised a facially sufficient claim that requires a factual determination -- but instead makes merely conclusory and speculative allegations about the use of pentobarbital -- the postconviction court did not err in summarily denying Valle's successive postconviction motion," Justice Canady wrote in his dissent.