Execution chamber stays
Montana's execution chamber, an old renovated, single-wide trailer house, is not going anywhere, despite a recent judge's order indicating the beige, metal building was to be disassembled and removed by the end of the month.
The chamber and the executions that go on there are the subject of a 2008 lawsuit brought by Ronald Smith, a man facing the death penalty in Montana who argues lethal injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
That lawsuit was put on hold earlier this month after state lawyers told Helena District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock the state intended to remove the trailer by Feb. 1 and begin building a new room at the prison that could host executions.
"The court was made aware that the current execution chamber at Montana State Prison will be disassembled and moved off the premises as of Feb. 1, 2010," reads an order Sherlock signed on Jan. 7.
But it turns out that the trailer isn't going anywhere.
Department of Corrections spokesman Bob Anez said Tuesday the department has no plans to move the trailer, adding that it could potentially be used for executions, even as construction on a new execution site begins.
"It is not being disassembled and moved off," Anez said.
Ron Waterman, the Helena lawyer representing Smith in the lawsuit, said Tuesday it didn't matter to him if the trailer was actually taken away; it matters that it not be used again. Waterman said he didn't think the trailer would be used again, even though Corrections has said it will remain a viable execution site for the foreseeable future.
"It's really irrelevant," Waterman said.
Montana has two men awaiting a death sentence and both have appeal cases pending. Neither of those cases is expected to be resolved before the new execution site has been built.
Corrections is set to begin building a storage area attached to the maximum security unit where inmates sentenced to death are housed. That 800-square foot area will also be designed to allow it to function as a site of executions.
http://www.montanastandard.com/articles/2010/01/13/state/hjijjiihhghejh.txt
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