BALTIMORE — A federal judge yesterday rejected a bid by Vernon Evans to postpone his execution, the second time in two days that Evans’ challenges of the state’s method of lethal injection have been turned down in court.
Evans had asked a federal judge to delay his execution, set for next week, saying the state’s planned method of execution could cause him unnecessary and excruciating pain, violating his constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
But U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg ruled that Evans’ claims that his years of intravenous drug use had damaged his veins so badly that the lethal drugs might not work properly were not enough to derail his execution.
“Evans has not shown that there are substantial and unnecessary risks intrinsic to the procedure,” Judge Legg wrote.
A similar appeal filed in Baltimore Circuit Court was denied Tuesday.
Evans, 57, faces death for the 1983 contract killing of David Scott Piechowicz and his sister-in-law, Susan Kennedy. His conspirator, Anthony Grandison, is also awaiting execution. Evans claims he was not the gunman in the murders.
Maryland uses a three-drug combination for executions — the first renders the inmate unconscious, the second paralyzes the respiratory system and the third stops the heart. The drugs are injected through IV lines usually connected to the arms of the inmate, who is strapped to a gurney.
But Evans’ attorneys and an emergency room doctor who recently examined the inmate said the veins in his arms and legs were so damaged that none could be reliably used for an IV connection. That could mean the anesthesia injected under high pressure might burst his veins, leaving him conscious when the other two drugs, which would cause great pain, flow into his body.
“If he dies, no one will ever know the suffering he has endured,” said Evans attorney A. Stephen Hut Jr. during a hearing in front of Judge Legg earlier yesterday.
Evans agreed to have the execution performed if the state attaches the IV to larger veins in his groin or chest, which would require a surgical procedure performed by a physician. Maryland uses a certified nursing assistant to insert the IV needles, not a doctor.
“It would be an exercise in speculation … to find that Evans faces a substantial and unnecessary risk of unconstitutional pain and suffering,” Judge Legg wrote.
Assistant Attorney General Scott Oakley also noted that at least two other inmates executed in Maryland and many in other states have failed to convince courts that lethal executions cause undue pain. Mr. Oakley called Evans’ appeal an “abusive delay” of the execution.
The three drugs “have never been found by a court to inflict a cruel and unusual punishment,” he said.
A Queen Anne’s County emergency technician, who was not named because he could be part of the execution team, testified yesterday that he inspected Evans on Tuesday and found several healthy veins in his arms.
That contradicted the testimony Friday of Dr. Thomas Scalea of the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, who examined Evans on behalf of his defense team and said he could find no usable veins.
Evans still has a petition for clemency pending before Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
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