Manuel Valle execution set for Sept. 6
by Dara Kam | August 24th, 2011
Florida officials are scheduled to put Manuel Valle to death on Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. after the Florida Supreme Court yesterday approved the state’s new lethal injection drug cocktail.
Valle has spent more than three decades on Death Row and has avoided execution through a series of appeals, reversals and other legal wranglings that eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned his death penalty. In all, courts have re-sentenced Valle to death three times.
Valle, who was born in Cuba, was sentenced to death for the 1978 murder of a Coral Gables police officer, Louis Pena. Valle, now 61, shot Pena after the police officer pulled him over on a routine traffic stop.
The state’s highest court put the execution, originally ordered by Gov. Rick Scott for Aug. 2, back on track on Tuesday with an order approving the state’s new lethal injection drug protocol.
The court in July halted the execution and ordered a hearing on the Department of Corrections’ new drug – pentobarbital – substituted for a drug no longer manufactured and used as the first of the three-drug lethal injection “cocktail.”
On Tuesday, the court approved the new protocol, saying it did not pose a substantial risk of harm to the inmate. Valle’s lawyers argued that pentobarbital, also known as Nebutal, may not render him unconscious, thus subjecting him to undue pain induced by the following drugs used in the procedure.
But the Supreme Court agreed with three other federal courts who also found no credible evidence that administering the drug in the method proscribed – 10 times the dosage required for sedation – would not render Valle unconscious. Pentobarbital is also used in animal euthanasia and assisted suicide, but its manufacturer has asked prison officials as well as Scott not to use it to kill prisoners.
Lawyers for Valle are still pursuing a challenge against lethal injection in federal court and other appeals, including with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Tags: death penalty, Florida Supreme Court, lethal injection, Manuel Valle, Rick Scott
August 24th, 2011 at 8:40 pm
The court in July halted the execution and ordered a hearing on the Department of Corrections’ new drug – pentobarbital – substituted for a drug no longer manufactured and used as the first of the three-drug lethal injection “cocktail.”
August 24th, 2011 at 9:22 pm
They asked him if he wanted to hear a last song and he said, “Sure, anything but shock-a-con.”
August 25th, 2011 at 8:27 pm
Justice delayed is justice denied. I think 33 years is long enough.Proceed.
August 26th, 2011 at 6:42 am
Forget the chemicals and bring back Ole Sparky or a length of hemp rope.
August 30th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
How many appeals did the dead police officer get? Put this piece of trash to death.
September 1st, 2011 at 12:08 am
anyone that agrees with the death penalty and the murder of another human is JUST as BAD. just because the government is not setting a good example and is being rediculously immature doesnt mean we have to. god is to decide a mans fate and him be judged …not us..let the piece of krap rot in jail. we would have saved millions giving him life back in 78 but since you idiots wanted him executed this has costed YOU the public over 10 million + in expenses and its comiong out of YOUR pockets!!!
September 2nd, 2011 at 10:02 am
Office Peña has not rested in his grave for 33 years. Just give Peña the same “pain killing drug” he used on the officer before executing him. I think it’s fair enough !
September 6th, 2011 at 10:14 am
An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.
September 6th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
You never kill your own children, regardless of what they do, right? In fact, government is a parent, and its citizens are its own children. Sigh!!!
September 6th, 2011 at 4:07 pm
If Valle hadn’t been sentenced to death, some bleeding heart judge would have let him out by now. At least the death sentence he received has kept him behind bars. BTW; the police officer he killed was someone’s son. Would your opinion be different if it had been your son or father?