Inmate scheduled for execution files appeal

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A 74-year-old Alabama inmate scheduled to be executed in November is asking an appellate court to review his claim that Alabama’s lethal injection procedure is inhumane.

Lawyers for Thomas Arthur filed the appeal with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Arthur’s attorneys argued a federal judge in July prematurely dismissed Arthur’s challenge after misapplying a requirement for inmates to name an alternate execution method.

Arthur is scheduled to be put to death Nov. 3 for the 1982 murder-forhire of Muscle Shoals businessman Troy Wicker.

The appeal, filed Saturday, centers around the application of a requirement that inmates challenging execution procedures must name an alternate execution method that is available. Arthur suggested a firing squad and another lethal injection drug. The judge said Arthur had not identified a source for alternate drugs. He also rejected a firing squad because it wasn’t explicitly named as a form of execution in Alabama law.

Lawyers for Arthur said the judge was putting such a strict interpretation on the requirement that it would be impossible for an inmate to fulfill and challenge a state’s execution method.

“There can be no dispute that condemned prisoners lack the authority to negotiate a supply of drugs on behalf of the state, and a condemned inmate cannot reasonably do more than identify a feasible alternative,” lawyers for Arthur wrote.