11 September 2010 :

Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd has halted the execution of 53-year-old Gregory L. Wilson planned for Thursday next week, ruling that the state's protocol for administering a lethal injection does not match up with state law, and barred the state from carrying out any other executions because of questions about the state's lethal injection process. Wilson was convicted in 1988 of kidnapping, raping and murdering 36-year-old Deborah Pooley in 1987. Kentucky readopted its lethal injection protocol in May, 7 months after the state's top court halted executions because the written process wasn't properly put into place. The inmates immediately challenged it. Kentucky's protocol covers a variety of issues, including what to do about a condemned, pregnant inmate, but doesn't address if or how the state Department of Corrections should determine whether an inmate is mentally retarded or insane. State law spells out that Kentucky may carry out a lethal injection by the use of 1 drug or a combination of drugs. The protocol accounts only for using 3 drugs and, for older cases, the option of death by electrocution. The state attorney general's office says it plans to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.