Judge to inspect Calif. death chamber

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A judge will tour California's new death chamber, set for lethal injections, to determine if the state can resume executions on hold since 2006, officials say.

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel is to do the review.

In 2006 Fogel called the state's execution methods "broken," citing poor training of execution team members and an antiquated death chamber.

Under orders from former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California spent years revising its lethal injection procedures and building a new $900,000 death chamber at San Quentin, and now Fogel is reviewing whether the state is ready to carry out humane executions, the San Jose Mercury News reported Monday.

The state introduced the new chamber last fall, in an attempt to address the problems Fogel identified in his 2006 findings.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 2008 ruling, set the guidelines for lethal injection procedures.

Death penalty supporters say California's method complies with those standards.

"I think we have a protocol that is constitutional," said Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, "and a stock of drugs to carry it out."