Supreme Court to hear death penalty case

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday in a case challenging the constitutionality of execution by lethal injection.

The case is brought by two death-row inmates in Kentucky who are challenging the three-drug cocktail used to kill prisoners, Hearst Newspapers reported Sunday.

Inmates Ralph Baze and Thomas Bowling contend that death by lethal injection, the most common method of execution in the United States, amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

They say the three-drug cocktail given to death-row inmates at the time of execution can leave prisoners in excruciating pain until they expire, Hearst reported.

In 29 states, prisoners are first administered an anesthesia known as sodium thiopental followed by the paralytic pancuronium bromide, which does not block pain but prevents voluntary muscle movement. Finally, they are injected with potassium chloride, which stops the heart from beating.

"It is undisputed that a condemned prisoner injected with pancuronium and potassium will suffer torturous pain and agonizing death if the prisoner has not been properly anesthetized," said Donald Verrilli, who will represent the Kentucky inmates before the high court.