The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging the humaneness of Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol today.
The appeal was the latest on behalf of Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman, who’s on death row for murder.
The appeal argued that the use of Pavulon in the state’s lethal injection process is inhumane.
The chemical is the second of three chemicals used in the process. It paralyzes the inmate’s muscles and stops the breathing.
Nashville lawyer Bradley MacLean represents Abdur’Rahman.
MacLean says the Animal Humane Death Act in Tennessee bans the use of the chemical in euthanizing animals and argues it is not only “inhumane”, but also “demeaning”.
“What it does is it completely paralyzes the muscles of the inmate, and so it will disguise any suffering that the inmate might be experiencing.”
Most of the 37 states that allow lethal injection use the same chemicals used in Tennessee.
Abdur’Rahman was convicted of murder in 1987 for the murder of Patrick Daniels. Abdur’Rahman’s appeal is pending in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
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