A member of Maryland?s execution team testified Tuesday that she endeavors to make the lethal injection process as painless as possible for inmates.
But she conceded under cross-examination in federal court that she is far from an expert in lethal injections and has no advanced medical training.
Attorneys for convicted murderer Vernon Evans Jr. are challenging Maryland?s death penalty on the grounds that the state?s use of lethal injection violates the U.S. Constitution?s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
To counter that assertion, attorneys for the state called the member of the execution team as their first witness of the day.
“Do you believe Vernon Evans should receive a painless execution?” Assistant Attorney General Laura Mullally asked the woman, who replied that she did.
In a sealed federal courtroom, the woman, whose identity was concealed, testified to how she searches an inmate?s arms for workable veins before she inserts the lethal injection chemicals.
“I look for the best one,” the woman said. “I examine the arm for the veins that I would use to insert the IV.”
Reporters heard the testimony because it was piped into a courtroom on a lower floor.
The woman, who inserted the needle into Steven Oken and Wesley Baker, the last two Marylanders executed, said she has inspected Evans? arms and believes he can be executed in a painless manner.
However, under cross examination from A. Stephen Hut, Evans? attorney, the woman conceded that she does not have advanced medical training.
“Apart from a course, you have no medical training, do you?” Hut asked the woman, who replied that she did not.
Throughout the trial, Evans? attorneys also have taken issue with Maryland?s use of correctional officers to execute prisoners, despite those guards? lack of college degrees or medical training.
If U.S. District Court Judge Benson Legg rules in Evans? favor, the decision could alter the way Maryland handles its executions.
Evans, one of six men on Maryland?s death row, was sentenced for the April 28, 1983, murders of two Pikesville residents, one of whom was scheduled to testify in a federal drug case.
Maryland?s death row
Name/Year/Place Convicted
» Vernon Evans Jr. / 1984 / Baltimore County
» Anthony Grandison / 1984 / Baltimore County
» John Booth / 1984 / Baltimore City
» Heath Burch / 1996 / Prince George?s
» Jody Miles / 1998 / Wicomico
» Lawrence Borchardt / 2000 / Baltimore County
Source: Maryland Citizens Against State Executions
