Calif. gov mulls change to lethal injection method

SAN FRANCISCO — In the state’s latest effort to restart long-stalled executions in California, Gov. Brown’s order was disclosed in a two-page appeal of a Marin County judge’s decision to toss out California’s newly developed lethal injection regulations. Lawyers for the state Department of Justice said Thursday they would reconsider the appeal if it becomes certain that sodium thiopental can no longer be used in California executions. Marin County Judge Faye D’Opal in December invalidated the regulations because she said the state failed to explain why it chose the three-drug mixture over the one-drug method, which may have a lower risk of causing undo suffering to the inmate. A federal judge halted executions in 2006 and ordered prison officials to improve their lethal injection procedures or he was going to find California’s lethal injection process caused unconstitutional suffering.