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Could Rare Health Problem Stop Inmate Russell Bucklew's Execution?

Could Rare Health Problem Stop This Inmate's Execution?
Reuters
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In this Feb. 9, 2014 photo provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections is Russell Bucklew. The Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday, April 8, 2014 set a May 21 execution date for convicted killer Russell Bucklew, continuing a trend of scheduling one execution per month. Bucklew was convicted in the fatal shooting of Michael Sanders, a romantic rival, then abducting and raping Bucklew's ex-girlfriend. (AP Photo/Missouri Department of Corrections)

By Kevin Murphy

KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 9 (Reuters) - A Missouri death row inmate wants to halt his execution because of a rare health condition his lawyers say would likely result in exceptional pain and possible suffocation.

Russell Bucklew, 45, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on May 21 for the 1996 murder of Michael Sanders in southeast Missouri. But lawyers for Bucklew filed a lawsuit in federal court in Kansas City on Friday stating that he has a congenital condition called cavernous hemangioma that causes malformed vessels in his head and neck to grow and rupture under stress.

Lethal drugs injected into his body would likely circulate improperly, the lawsuit says, citing medical evaluations.

"This will create a great risk of prolonging the execution and causing Mr. Bucklew to suffer excruciating pain," the lawsuit said. Bucklew's condition also shrinks his airways, putting him at risk of suffocation, the lawsuit said.

The death penalty has come under fresh national scrutiny since an Oklahoma inmate, Clayton Lockett, writhed in pain when a needle became dislodged from his vein during an attempted lethal injection on April 29. The execution was halted but Lockett died of a heart attack.

Death by lethal injection would be cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the U.S. Constitution, Bucklew's lawsuit states. A spokesmen for the Missouri Department of Corrections had no comment.

Bucklew's case rests "not on the inherent dangers" of Missouri's protocol of lethal drugs but on the "specific and unique facts" of his medical condition, the lawyers state in the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, in Texas on Friday a federal judge declined to block the scheduled execution on Tuesday of Robert James Campbell, 41, convicted in the kidnap, rape and murder of a bank teller in Houston in 1991.

Campbell's lawyers say his execution is set to be conducted under the same "shroud of secrecy" that they claim contributed to the bungled execution of Lockett. (Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City, Mo, and Jim Forsyth in San Antonio, Texas; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Grant McCool)

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Before You Go

A History Of Capital Punishment In Texas
1819(01 of12)
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George Brown is first person executed in Texas, by hanging. (credit:Getty)
1863(02 of12)
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Chipita Rodriguez is first woman executed in Texas, by hanging. (credit:WikiMedia:)
1923(03 of12)
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Lee Nathan becomes the last of 394 people executed by hanging. (credit:Getty)
1924(04 of12)
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Charles Reynolds becomes first inmate to die in the electric chair in Huntsville as state takes over executions. (credit:WikiMedia:)
1963(05 of12)
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Joseph Johnson is the last of 361 Texas prisoners to die in the electric chair. (credit:WikiMedia:)
1972 (06 of12)
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U.S. Supreme Court finds death penalty "cruel and unusual;" death sentences of 52 people in Texas are commuted to life in prison. (credit:Getty)
1976(07 of12)
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U.S. Supreme Court holds Georgia death penalty statute constitutional, setting stage for resumption of executions. (credit:Getty )
1977(08 of12)
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Texas adopts lethal injection method. (credit:Getty Images)
1982 (09 of12)
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Texas inmate Charlie Brooks becomes first in U.S. to receive lethal injection. (credit:AP)
1998(10 of12)
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Karla Tucker becomes first woman executed in Texas since Civil War. (credit:AP)
2000(11 of12)
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Texas executes a record 40 prisoners in one year. (credit:AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)
2013(12 of12)
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This undated file photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Kimberly McCarthy, who is on death row in Texas for the 1997 killing of a neighbor during a robbery. McCarthy is scheduled to be executed on June 26 and would be the 500th in Texas since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976. (credit:AP)
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