6th Circuit Favors Lethal Injection

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A federal appeals court has vacated a lower court's ruling that Tennessee's lethal injection process is unconstitutional.

In 2007, the U.S. District Court in Nashville supported a claim by convicted murderer Edward Jerome Harbison that the process violates his Eighth Amendment right because it involves an "unnecessary ... infliction of pain."

The state appealed based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld Kentucky's lethal injection process, which is similar to Tennessee's. The case did not prevent Tennessee from carrying out another execution earlier this year.

The 6th Circuit on Thursday agreed with the state and vacated the injunction barring the state from executing Harbison, despite the dissension of one judge.