WASHINGTON, March 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Monday heard the case of an Alabama murderer who says his lethal injection would be unconstitutional if officials cut him to find a vein.
By his own account, death row inmate David Larry Nelson's veins have collapsed due to extensive drug use. Alabama officials have said they may have to make an incision in order to find a vein to administer his lethal injection. Nelson claims that violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments.
Nelson's case is actually technical. The Supreme Court must decide whether his claim, which he filed under civil rights law, is in fact a second constitutional review of his case, which is banned by U.S. law unless approved by an appeals court.
In 1977, ex-con Nelson murdered two men in Birmingham, one during a robbery, the other while arranging for the victim to have sex with Nelson's girlfriend.
The Supreme Court blocked Nelson's execution last October until it could hand down a decision in his case.
