Title: Serial killer Joseph Franklin executed after hours of delay | CNN
Headings: Serial killer Joseph Franklin executed after hours of delay
Serial killer Joseph Franklin executed after hours of delay
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Battle over drugs used

Content: Tim Boyle/Des Plaines Police Department
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Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon denied clemency for Franklin on Monday, saying he had committed “merciless acts of violence, fueled by hate.” In addition to the killings, Franklin admitted to the attempted assassinations of Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt in 1978 and civil rights leader Vernon Jordan in 1980. Flynt, who was paralyzed by Franklin’s bullet, has called for clemency for Franklin, saying “the government has no business at all being in the business of killing people.” Battle over drugs used
One of Franklin’s final legal maneuvers focused on the drug used for the lethal injection, pentobarbital. His attorneys argued that the injection would violate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey granted a stay of execution, finding Franklin’s lawyers showed the use of pentobarbital carried “a high risk of contamination and prolonged, unnecessary pain beyond that which is required to achieve death.” An intimate discussion with a serial killer
“Given the irreversible nature of the death penalty and plaintiffs’ medical evidence and allegations, a stay is necessary to ensure that the defendants’ last act against Franklin is not permanent, irremediable cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment,” Laughrey wrote.