WA Lawsuit Over DP Cocktail:  Attorneys representing three murderers on Washington's death row argued yesterday that only one drug should be used to execute the state's murderers.  A story by Jennifer Sullivan in The Seattle Times reports that while the plaintiffs have raised several claims against Washington's protocol, the major focus is on the use of three drugs in Washington's lethal-injection cocktail.  The lead plaintiff, Darold Stenson, who killed his wife and business partner in 1993, testified that his veins are difficult to locate due to health problems, which may prevent the initial painkiller administered in the protocol to take effect.  

Connecticut Senate Votes to Abolish Capital Punishment in the face of an expected veto by Governor M. Jodi Rell.  "The Day" writer Ted Mann reports that the 19-17 vote this morning followed House approval of the bill, which will make the state's most severe sentence for murder life in prison without the possibility of parole.  Connecticut currently has ten murderers on its death row and has only carried out one execution over the past 48 years.

Big LA Gang Sweep:  In what U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien called "the largest gang takedown in United States History,"  over 1,400 law enforcement officers were involved in a sweep in Los Angeles County Thursday, arresting  88 members and associates of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang according to this story from Reuters.  An AP story by Thomas Watkins reports that state and federal officers siezed dozens of firearms including assault rifles and over $1 million in drugs during the sweep.  The gang, in addition to its other criminal activities, has conducted an ongoing campaign of violence against blacks to drive them out of the small Los Angeles County city of Hawaiian Gardens.   The 2005 murder of LA County Sheriff's Deputy Luis Otiz by a member of the gang sparked the investigation leading to Thursday's sweep.