Supreme Court Rules Against Death-Row Inmate With Rare Health Issue
- Inmate said he might choke on blood during lethal injection
- Majority says inmate failed to show safer alternative exists
Photographer: Mike Simons/Getty Images
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A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Missouri can give a lethal injection to a convicted murderer who says his rare medical condition means he would probably choke on his own blood.
Voting 5-4 along ideological lines, the justices rejected arguments from Russell Bucklew, who suffers from cavernous hemangioma, a disease that has caused blood-filled tumors in his head, neck and throat.