Florida suspends executions; California judge declares lethal injection unconstitutional

OCALA, Florida, Saturday (AP) - Governor Jeb Bush suspended all executions in Florida after a medical examiner said that prison officials botched the insertion of the needles when a convicted killer was put to death earlier this week.

Separately, a federal judge in California on Friday extended a moratorium on executions in the United States' most populous state, declaring that the state's method of lethal injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled in San Jose that California's ''implementation of lethal injection is broken, but it can be fixed.''

The decisions are the latest in a nationwide challenge to lethal injection – the preferred method of execution in 37 U.S. states – as cruel and unusual punishment. Last month, a federal judge declared Missouri's injection method, which is similar to California's, unconstitutional.

In Florida, medical examiner Dr. William Hamilton said Wednesday's execution of Angel Nieves Diaz took 34 minutes _ twice as long as usual _ and required a rare second dose of lethal chemicals because the needles were inserted clear through his veins and into the flesh in his arms. The chemicals are supposed to go into the veins.

Hamilton, who performed the autopsy, refused to say whether he thought Diaz died a painful death.

''I am going to defer answers about pain and suffering until the autopsy is complete,'' he said. He said the results were preliminary and other tests may take several weeks.

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld executions – by lethal injection, hanging, firing squad, electric chair and gas chamber –despite the pain they might cause, but has left unsettled the issue of whether the pain is unconstitutionally excessive.

Missing a vein when administering the injections would cause ''both psychological and physical discomfort – probably pretty severe,'' said Dr. J. Kent Garman, an emeritus professor of anesthesia at the Stanford School of Medicine in California.

''All the drugs would be much slower to affect the body because they're not going into a blood vessel. They're going under the skin. They take a long time to be absorbed by the body,'' said Garman, said he was ethically opposed to lethal injection.

An inmate would remain conscious for a longer period of time and would likely be aware of increased difficulty breathing and pain caused by angina, the interruption of blood flow to the heart, he said.

Jonathan Groner, associate professor of surgery at Ohio State University, said the injection would cause excruciating pain ''like your arms are on fire.''