Lethal injection resumes in state

Montgomery - Gov. Bob Riley resumed state executions Monday after a change in lethal injection procedures that halted the scheduled execution of Tommy Douglas Arthur in September.

Riley said the planned execution of terminally ill Danial Lee Siebert will proceed Thursday as scheduled. Siebert has appeals in federal court that could stay his execution.

After Siebert's planned execution is Arthur's, who was scheduled to die by lethal injection Sept. 27. On that day, Riley stayed his execution for 45 days pending a change in the state's method of lethal injection.

Opponents of Alabama's death penalty said lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment.

They said it leaves too great a chance the condemned will suffer because there's the possibility that the lethal injection causes pain and because it could also cause paralysis and the condemned is unable to communicate that pain to those administering the injection.

The new protocol involves a series of steps designed to test an inmate's unconsciousness once a nonfatal knockout drug is given in preparation for a lethal dose of chemicals.

Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett said the new protocol is a "generally accepted means for assessing consciousness."

The steps include calling the inmate by name, brushing the inmate's eyelashes, and pinching the inmate's arm. "A member from the execution team is on hand to perform those grading stimuli," Corbett said.

Siebert's execution date had been set when Arthur was granted a brief hiatus. Siebert's supporters said he shouldn't be executed because he's suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer, which Riley addressed in a statement.

Riley said Siebert was given the death sentence and any action by him would result in a life sentence. "His crimes were monstrous, brutal and ghastly," Riley said.

Siebert, 53, was convicted of the strangulation deaths of a mother and her two sons in Talladega County in 1986: Sherri Weathers, her sons, 5-year-old Chad and 4-year-old Joey, and for killing a neighbor, Linda Jarman. Weathers was a student at the Alabama School for the Blind and had been dating Siebert.

Attorneys for Siebert did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. They have asked federal and state courts to block his execution on grounds the drugs used to kill him could interact with his medication and cause undue pain.

Arthur was convicted for the 1982 shooting death of Muscle Shoals resident Troy Wicker.

Arthur's attorney, Sunaha Han, of New York, said Alabama's new lethal injection protocol could end up being unconstitutional.

"Because the state cannot possibly have any interest in executing Mr. Arthur in an unconstitutional manner, the state should not proceed with Mr. Arthur's execution until the constitutionality of Alabama's revised protocol has been fully addressed," Han said.

Attorney General Troy King asked the Alabama Supreme Court to reset an execution date for Arthur, but the court had not set a date as of Monday, the clerk's office said.

Siebert filed a challenge to his execution in federal court in Montgomery. Arthur has challenged his execution to the U.S. Supreme Court and wants DNA testing of crime scene evidence to prove his proclaimed innocence.

"Instead of trying to rush the execution of Mr. Arthur by a method whose constitutionality is being challenged, the state should grant Mr. Arthur's request for DNA testing, which would not cost the state anything and which would not delay his execution," Han said.

Dana Beyerle can be reached at (334) 264-6605.