Misleading media reports on oral arguments being heard today in the Ohio lethal-injection challenge case:  Terry Kinney has this misleading AP report on oral arguments being heard today by a 3-judge panel (Suhrheinrich, Gilman, Siler) of the US 6th Circuit Ct of Appeals in the Cooey v. Taft case challenging Ohio's lethal-injection protocol.

Excerpt:
Several opponents of Ohio's lethal injection method of execution contend that the chemicals used in the three-step process inflict such severe pain that death results, in effect, from torture.

They want the procedure declared unconstitutional. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to hear their arguments on Thursday, less than a week after the court blocked the scheduled Ohio execution of a convicted murderer.

The challenge was filed in December 2004 on behalf of Richard Cooey, 39, who had been sentenced to die for raping and killing two university students in 1986.

Eight Ohio death row inmates have joined Cooey's lawsuit since then, although two have been executed after failing to obtain stays of execution.

Important Note:  Today's oral arguments in the 6th Circuit are pursuant to an interlocutory appeal by the Ohio AG challenging the ongoing proceedings in US District Ct.  Today's arguments will not be addressing the constitutionality of Ohio's lethal-injection protocol, but rather whether such an examination can go forward in the district court.  The district court proceedings (specifically, a hoped-for evidentiary hearing to actually examine the Ohio protocol for the first time) have been on hold pending the outcome of the appeal being argued today, which involves a statue of limitations question, a res judicata issue, and some other matters.  Depending on the outcome of this 6th Circuit appeal, the evidentiary hearing in US district court will either go forward or be barred.  The AP article above and other media reports are innacurate in that they suggest that today's proceedings are addressing the consitutionality of the Ohio lethal-injection protocol.  Instead, they should accurately report that today's (very important) hearings will determine whether that examination can take place.

Update:  Marginally revised AP report is here.