LINCOLN — The Nebraska Supreme Court has set a June 14 execution date for condemned killer Carey Dean Moore, although it left several options open for state and federal appeals.
The court issued a death warrant late Thursday and denied several motions challenging the constitutionality of the state’s lethal injection law.
Jerry Soucie, Moore’s attorney, said, “The question is in what order do you pursue your available remedies?”
Whatever legal avenues Moore pursues could force delays in his execution, which already has been pushed back four years.
Moore, 53, was sentenced to die in 1980 for the murders of two Omaha cabdrivers, Reuel Van Ness Jr. and Maynard Helgeland, both 47.
His case is the oldest among the 12 men on death row.
If the execution were carried out, it would be the first in Nebraska since Robert Williams was put to death in the electric chair in 1997.
It also would be Nebraska’s first execution by lethal injection.
State lawmakers changed the method of execution after the state high court ruled that electrocution was unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.
No courts have reviewed the lethal injection law since it was passed in 2009.
The court set an execution date for Moore in 2007, then issued a stay that was in effect until Thursday.
At the time of the stay, the court said it needed to decide on the constitutionality of the electric chair, which was then Nebraska’s sole method of execution.
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning asked the Supreme Court in January to set an execution date for Moore.
He made the request three days after state corrections officials said they had obtained a supply of sodium thiopental and were ready to carry out a death sentence.
Officials bought the chemical, a fast-acting sedative that would be the first of three used in an execution, from a company in India.
The last U.S. manufacturer of the chemical stopped making it earlier this year. Since then, Nebraska and at least six other states have gone overseas to obtain supplies of the drug.
Other states have switched to phenobarbitol, a drug commonly used by veterinarians to euthanize animals.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Correctional Services said Thursday that the state is not contemplating a change in the protocol. Officials would have to go through the process of rewriting the rules and regulations for lethal injection if they wanted to make a change.
The governor’s spokeswoman, Jen Rae Hein, said the administration is “fully prepared to carry out the court order.”
Moore filed motions with the Supreme Court last month challenging the lethal injection law and questioning whether the state complied with federal laws governing the importation of controlled substances.
In its Thursday order, the Supreme Court rejected Moore’s motions, saying the lethal injection law and the rules and regulations for carrying out the death penalty are presumed to be constitutional.
Those challenging the constitutionality of laws and rules bear the burden of proving them unconstitutional, the court said.
Bruning’s office had little comment on the order.
“The court order speaks for itself,” said spokeswoman Shannon Kingery,
Jill Francke, statewide coordinator for Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty, said the setting of an execution date was no surprise.
“Certainly, we feel this is a step in the wrong direction,” Francke said. “We see support for the death penalty declining, both nationally as well as in this state.”
Last month, Illinois became the 16th state to abolish a death penalty.
Members of the Judiciary Committee advanced a proposal this year to repeal Nebraska’s death penalty but debate is not expected on the measure until next year.
Meanwhile, Lincoln attorney Alan Peterson, a death penalty opponent, has asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate Nebraska’s purchase of sodium thiopental.
Federal officials seized Georgia’s supply of sodium thiopental in March, saying there were questions about how that state imported the drug. Two other states have surrendered their supplies of the drug.
The supplier used by Nebraska, Kayem Pharmaceuticals of Mumbai, India, announced two weeks ago that it was voluntarily halting sales of the drug if it was to be used for executions. The move came amid mounting pressure from anti-death penalty groups.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com
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