Eminent Domain

The Nebraska State Supreme Court rejected an inmate's claim that the electric chair was cruel and unusual punishment. Nebraska is the only state in the country that has the chair as its only form of capital punishment. Other states still have it, but also use other methods...

No American court has ever ruled that electrocution amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. But as legal challenges were mounted against its use, others states adopted alternative methods of execution, primarily lethal injection.

I doubt that the chair is going away anytime soon. Courts won't strike it down as C&U because it's used so rarely, it may cause a public backlash, and its been in use for over 100 years.

I found this interesting though...

Last week in Virginia, Brandon Hedrick, 27, chose to become the first person in the U.S. to die in the electric chair in more than two years.

I find something morbidly funny about death row inmates choosing their method of execution. I'm imagining a menu of options being handed to them. Personally, I'd ask for the firing squad, but only Idaho and Oklahoma still have it.

I'd like to thank Erick from Letters in Bottles for e-mailing me this news story. Well, he will be "Erick from Letters in Bottles" when he finally decides to start posting...