An execution likely will not take place for at least a year after the Nebraska Legislature passes a lethal injection law, according to a letter from Attorney General Jon Bruning's office to state senators.

But Lincoln Sen. Danielle Nantkes believes the appeal process on an expected new state law may take much longer.

The state likely would seek an execution date for Raymond Mata Jr. immediately after the state Department of Correctional Services writes execution protocol for a new lethal injection law, according to the letter from Chief Deputy Attorney General David Cookson. Mata, 36, was convicted of the 1999 murder of a Scottsbluff toddler.

Debate on a bill (LB36) to make lethal injection the state's method of execution begins Monday afternoon. The measure is expected to pass this spring and become law soon after.

Nebraska has had no way to carry out a death sentence since the state Supreme Court declared the electric chair unconstitutional in February 2008.

Setting an execution date quickly would mean litigation testing the constitutionality of the new method of execution would go before the Supreme Court quickly, according to Cookson's letter.

In it, he estimates that litigation of state and federal constitutional issues regarding a new method of execution - particularly if it is lethal injection - could be completed within 12 months or less following creation of an execution protocol.

The attorney general's office expects the case to be resolved by the Nebraska Supreme Court, since the U.S. Supreme Court already has held that lethal injection does not violate the federal constitution.

But Nantkes said litigation that could include an appeal to the U.S Supreme Court likely will take longer than a year. Questions likely to be raised include challenges to the corrections department's protocol and what happens to people sentenced under the previous law, she said Thursday.

The one-year estimate offers false hope, she said.

The attorney general's office was unable to provide senators with specific costs of switching to lethal injection as an execution method. The office has never tracked expenditures on a case-by-case basis, Cookson wrote in his letter, which was a response to questions from Nantkes and Sen. Jeremy Nordquist of Omaha.

Capital cases routinely represent less than 1 percent of the criminal appellate caseload, the letter said.

Nantkes said she hopes to have an interim study this summer or fall to get a better idea of the costs.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.