KY Judge To Hear Arguments Over Execution

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Attorneys for Kentucky are set to argue why lethal injections should be allowed to go forward for the first time in more than four years. Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd will hear arguments at 2 this afternoon in Frankfort. Earlier this year, the Commonwealth switched from using three drugs to carry out a lethal injection to a method that uses 3 grams of sodium thiopental or 5 grams of pentobarbital — similar to Ohio’s method.

Shepherd halted lethal injections in 2010, expressing concerns about the method.  He later ordered the state to drop the three-drug method or defend it in court.