Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said Wednesday his office will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a state court ruling declaring the electric chair unconstitutional.
the Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 7:00 pm
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said Wednesday his office will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a state court ruling declaring the electric chair unconstitutional.
Bruning made the announcement after the Nebraska Supreme Court on Wednesday denied his request to reconsider its ruling earlier this year striking down the electric chair.
The court said in February that death by electrocution violates the Nebraska constitution’s ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
The Nebraska court issued the ruling in an appeal from death row inmate Raymond Mata. The ruling did not affect the death sentence of Mata, or of any other Nebraska death row inmate, although it left the state without a means to carry out the sentences.
“We’re not surprised by today’s decision, but obviously we’re disappointed,” Bruning said in a news release.
“We’ll do everything possible to ensure the sentences against the state’s worst murderers are carried out.”