A federal judge rules Oklahoma's lethal injection method is constitutional
NPRA federal judge rules Oklahoma's lethal injection method is constitutional Enlarge this image toggle caption Sue Ogrocki/AP Sue Ogrocki/AP A federal judge in Oklahoma on Monday ruled the state's three-drug lethal injection method is constitutional, paving the way for the state to request execution dates for more than two dozen death row inmates who were plaintiffs in the case. Judge Stephen Friot's ruling followed a six-day federal trial earlier this year in which attorneys for 28 death row inmates argued the first of the three drugs, the sedative midazolam, is not adequate to render an inmate unable to feel pain and creates a risk of severe pain and suffering that violates the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. Oklahoma Attorney General John O'Connor said in a statement that the state effectively proved that both the lethal injection drugs and the state's execution protocols are constitutional. The state has carried out four lethal injections since October that Oklahoma's former Solicitor General Mithun Mansinghani said during closing arguments "are definitive proof that the protocol works as intended."