The biggest news of the week may be that Frank Perry, the Secretary of the Department of Public Safety, has authorized a one-drug protocol for lethal injection, replacing the three-drug “cocktail” system previously in effect. WRAL has the AP story here. The story states that the new protocol will “slightly loosen the legal knot that’s delayed carrying out capital punishment for years.” I plan to do a post in the near future about the status of the various threads in that knot, but it is debatable whether the new protocol will loosen the knot or engender additional legal challenges that tighten it. In other news: Medical examiner loses job. Dr. Clay Nichols, the deputy chief medical examiner, has been “separated” from his job. The News and Observer has a somewhat vague story here, asserting that “the State Bureau of Investigation has been investigating Nichols and has been examining his autopsy of Terrell Boykin, a 19-year-old Cumberland County man who was shot to death in 2011,” and that “Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall said he expects to decide soon whether to file criminal charges.” Because Dr. Nichols performed several hundred autopsies each year, his departure could impact many pending cases – including a Durham trial set for next week involving the accuser in the Duke lacrosse case. Traffic stop doesn’t end well. The Huffington Post has a story here that begins: “A New Mexico man is alleging abuse after authorities conducted three enemas, a colonoscopy, an X-ray and several cavity searches [...]
Faculty Coordinators
