Opinion ID: 1763781
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: lethal injection and electrocution are constitutional.

Text: Hunt contends that imposition of the death penalty by lethal injection or electrocution is unconstitutional pursuant to the Eighth Amendment of the Federal Constitution and Section 17 of the Kentucky Constitution. The issue is unpreserved. We have consistently held that neither lethal injection nor electrocution is an unconstitutional violation of the Eighth Amendment's proscription against cruel and unusual punishment. Wheeler v. Commonwealth, 121 S.W.3d 173, 186 (Ky.2003) (Wheeler argues that the death penalty is unconstitutional under the federal and Kentucky constitutions because the method used to carry out the sentence, lethal injection, is cruel and unusual punishment. Wheeler's claim that lethal injection is a violation of the Eighth Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment is without any case law support from Kentucky or elsewhere .... Certainly, it is not cruel and unusual punishment. Death by electrocution also does not violate either federal or Kentucky law. Stanford v. Kentucky, 492 U.S. 361, 109 S.Ct. 2969, 106 L.Ed.2d 306 (1989), overruled on other grounds by Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 125 S.Ct. 1183, 161 L.Ed.2d 1 (2005). Wheeler has also failed to demonstrate that either method of execution conflicts with any societal norms.); see also Baze v. Rees, 217 S.W.3d 207, 211-12 (Ky.2006); Epperson v. Commonwealth, 197 S.W.3d 46, 64 (Ky.2006). Chapman v. Commonwealth, 265 S.W.3d 156 (Ky.2007); Baze v. Rees, 553 U.S. 35, 128 S.Ct. 1520, 170 L.Ed.2d 420 (2008). Hunt has not presented anything causing us to doubt our conclusion that imposition of the death penalty by either lethal injection or electrocution is constitutional.