Judge dismisses Ark. execution challenge

LITTLE ROCK (AP) - Arkansas death-row inmates challenging the state's lethal injection procedures failed to show it subjected them to a significant risk of pain, a federal judge ruled. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright's decision eliminates the only stay stopping the execution of death-row inmate Don William Davis. Two other inmates involved in the suit, Jack Harold Jones and Terrick Nooner, have separate stays halting their executions. In her ruling Wednesday, Webber said the inmates failed to show they could face a so-called cut-down procedure during their execution. The procedure involves making cuts into an arm through skin and muscle to find a vein. Webber also said Arkansas' execution method adequately requires medical experience for those the starting intravenous lines to give the condemned a three-drug... [read full story]