Not having a vein accessable isn't a problem. It takes a doctor to give the drugs anyway, and it takes maybe 5-10 minutes to put in a "central line", access to a vein next to the heart. The question is moot.
That is an excellent point and something I had not thought about. So, you're right - that rules out the vein argument. Whether or not being on Topamax will affect the anesthesia is the next hurdle. To that I ask, is there an alternative medication that could be used that does not have this problem with being on Topamax? I don't know the answer. My uncle is an anesthesiologist, if I happen to talk to him in the next day or so I'll ask.
Hanging wasn't considered "cruel and unusual" at the time the 8A was written.
True. So the question becomes, what standard do we apply to "cruel and unusual"? I don't know. I won't take Con Law for another year or so. Maybe somebody else here has the answer. Do we compare things against what was used as capital punishment when the 8A was written? Or has the standard been modified as technology has improved?
I tend to be in the camp that says that the 2A applies to the people owning technologically advanced weapons such as AR-15s, etc. Rather than just what it applied to at the time it was written, ie: muzzle-loaders. As technology advanced, our right covered us owning at least what the military uses as far as small-arms. So, with that in mind, has the 8A evolved to mean that a criminal being put to death has a right to the least painful means of death? Again, these are questions I don't have answers to - I'm just more or less typing my line of thought on this.
I tend to think that the 8A these days means that the least cruel method of capital punishment is legally preferable. So, if in this case, if there is no way to anesthetize the guy properly, it might be worth resorting to a different method of capital punishment.
Then again, what do I know? My screen-name references a lactose-intolerant retarded cartoon character that is supposedly an imaginary friend. I'm certainly no Rhodes scholar.
I'm not saying that I agree with his argument that he shouldn't be put to death. I'm just saying that there might be some credence to an argument that he shouldn't be put to death via lethal injection.... and instead be put to death via another method.