Chicago Criminal attorney comments on missed deadlines

This Chicago Criminal attorney has posted here and here about capital punishment.  Well it looks like the drugs expired.

September 30, Los Angeles, CA:

California's effort to carry out its first execution in nearly five years collapsed Wednesday when the state Supreme Court ended a furious legal battle, giving a convicted rapist and murderer a reprieve that could last until at least next year.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation called off the execution hours after the Supreme Court refused to change long-established appeals deadlines to allow the execution of Albert Greenwood Brown Jr. to go forward.

California's effort to carry out its first execution in nearly five years collapsed Wednesday when the state Supreme Court ended a furious legal battle, giving a convicted rapist and murderer a reprieve that could last until at least next year.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation called off the execution hours after the Supreme Court refused to change long-established appeals deadlines to allow the execution of Albert Greenwood Brown Jr. to go forward.

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel effectively halted executions in 2006 following concerns that lethal injections might have inflicted significant pain, violating the U.S. Constitution's guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment. On Tuesday, Fogel ruled that he needed time to examine whether the state had properly corrected its procedures.

The attorney general's office asked a federal appeals court Wednesday to reverse Fogel's order but conceded defeat after the California Supreme Court's decision.

The Supreme Court ruled that another inmate's challenge to the state resuming executions is not yet officially over. The state had asked the Supreme Court to finalize an appeal court's Sept. 20 ruling that cleared the way for executions to begin again if the inmate, Mitchell Sims, had not filed an appeal by 5 p.m. Thursday.

But the Supreme Court rejected that request, saying that Sims had the entire day to file his appeal. After that, the Supreme Court has another 30 days to decide on its own whether to review the appeal court's decision.

The attorney general's office "had everybody scrambling," said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School and a former prosecutor who has not taken a public position on the death penalty. "The Supreme Court is trying to put everything back in order, saying there are rules to be followed and there's no way in time for the execution date that you guys asked for."

 Somehow, I doubt I’m the only one that finds it absurd that the government was dying to make the “deadline” (yep, pun intended)!