Ralph Baze

Ralph Baze is a convicted murderer who was sentenced to death but who in 2004, sued the Kentucky State Department of Corrections along with fellow inmate Thomas Clyde Bowling Jr. on the grounds that execution by lethal injection under the "cocktail" prescribed by Kentucky law constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment to the United States constitution. Baze's court case was "Baze v. Rees".

Baze had been scheduled for execution on 25 September 2007 but, on 12 September, was issued a stay of execution by the Kentucky Supreme Court. The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear his appeal. On April 16, 2008 the Court affirmed the Kentucky Supreme Court's decision that the injection protocol does not violate the Eighth Amendment. http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-5439.ZS.html

Baze does not dispute that he shot and killed Powell County, Kentucky Sheriff Steve Bennett and Deputy Arthur Briscoe in 1992 as they attempted to serve an arrest warrant on him, but claims that the shootings were self-defense.

Baze is imprisoned in Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville, Kentucky.

References

* [http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5icT6ZOfw2l5AlfiIYeEhfJpVeA8w Ky. Inmate Challenges Execution Method] , Brett Barrouquere, Associated Press, 25 September 2007
* [http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070912/NEWS01/70912019/1008/NEWS01 Ralph Baze granted stay of execution] , Brett Barrouquere Courier-Journal, 12 September 2007