Tennessee's attorney general plans to appeal a federal judge's finding that the state's method of lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
Robert Cooper filed a motion Friday telling the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals the state plans to fight Judge Aleta Trauger's ruling last month in a death penalty case.
Trauger has barred executions by lethal injection in Tennessee until the state addresses problems with training and medical expertise to ensure painless executions.
Gov. Phil Bredesen has called the judge's ruling wrong, but the state had not committed to appealing it until Friday's motion.
The challenge was brought by death row inmate Edward Jerome Harbison, who was convicted in the 1983 beating death of an elderly woman in Chattanooga.
Source: AP Features
