Mon., November 5, 2012 10:00am (EST)

High Court Hears Execution Drug Change Case
By Associated Press
Updated: 7 months ago

ATLANTA  —  
Death row inmate Warren Lee Hill was to be executed July 18. The day before the scheduled execution, the Department of Corrections announced a change in its execution protocol from a three-drug combination to a single drug method. The high court stayed Hill's execution to consider the issue and hears arguments Monday. (Photo Courtesy of Georgia Department of Corrections.)
Death row inmate Warren Lee Hill was to be executed July 18. The day before the scheduled execution, the Department of Corrections announced a change in its execution protocol from a three-drug combination to a single drug method. The high court stayed Hill's execution to consider the issue and hears arguments Monday. (Photo Courtesy of Georgia Department of Corrections.)
Georgia's highest court will consider whether prison officials violated state administrative procedures by failing to hold public hearings before changing the execution procedure.

The Georgia Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case Monday.

Death row inmate Warren Lee Hill was to be executed July 18. The day before the scheduled execution, the Department of Corrections announced a change in its execution protocol from a three-drug combination to a single drug method.

Hill's lawyers argued the new lethal injection procedure is invalid because corrections officials didn't follow the Georgia Administrative Procedure Act, which requires public hearings before new rules can be implemented. Corrections officials argued the injection protocol should not be considered a rule that is subject to that law.

The high court stayed Hill's execution to consider the issue.