Judge plans to rule on execution

BOISE – A federal judge told attorneys for a condemned Idaho inmate that he’ll try to decide by Monday whether to postpone an execution scheduled just one week away.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Bush said Thursday night he was concerned that the Idaho Department of Correction seemed to be “playing catch-up” when it came to planning for Paul Ezra Rhoades’ execution. Rhoades, who was convicted of murdering three people in 1987 and sentenced to die for two of the murders, has sued over Idaho’s lethal injection protocol.

Rhoades contends the state’s policy doesn’t include enough safeguards to ensure that he is adequately anesthetized and doesn’t experience excruciating pain during the execution. Idaho attorneys counter that their protocol is similar to methods that have been upheld by the courts in other states.