Death row inmate challenges Arkansas method of execution

PINE BLUFF, Ark. A man awaiting execution for the slaying of a college student at a coin laundry in 1993 claims in federal court that lethal injection is unconstitutional and should be banned.Thirty-five-year-old Terrick Terrell Nooner argues that the state uses flawed procedures and unqualified personnel when putting a person to death.
Nooner claims the method tortures inmates to death.
Similar suits have been filed in other states in recent years.
Prison officials say lethal injection is both legal and humane.
State prisons spokeswoman Dina Tyler says a dose of sodium pentothal, given to an inmate to render him unconscious, is enough to cause death even if subsequent doses of paralysis-inducing and heart-stopping drugs aren't administered.

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