One Drug Lethal Injection Bill Clears Committee:  Southern California Public Radio reports on a Senate Bill that was unanimously passed by the Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday that would alter California's lethal injection procedure.  Under Senate Bill 1018, CDCR would be required to develop and implement a one-drug lethal injection of a suitable anesthetic.  The new bill should eliminate concerns that lethal injection causes inmates to suffer.  A federal judge in Morales v. Tilton, in 2006, found California's lethal injection method created an unconstitutional risk of cruel and unusual punishment. (That decision was before Baze v. Rees, though, and the current method would almost certainly pass muster under Baze. Indeed, Justice Ginsburg cited the California procedure in her dissent as being better than the Kentucky procedure before the court.) The judge suggested California to execute solely using an anesthetic to eliminate any constitutional concerns.  Ohio recently changed its lethal injection procedures by implementing a single dosage of thiopental in response to litigation.  SB 1018 will now go to the Senate Appropriations committee.

DNA solves 20-Year-Old Tennessee Murder Case:  An AP article reports  that a Tennessee man pled guilty on Monday to the second-degree murder of 74-year-old Bessie Shores after DNA evidence linked him to the crime.  Daniel McFarland, a former South Carolina inmate, admitted to beating Shores to death back in 1990.  Unfortunately, DNA technology at the time of the murder DNA technology was unable to identify a suspect.   McFarland was implicated after a match was made in 2008.  At the time, McFarland was already in prison for committing a lewd act against a child.  The date of McFarland's sentencing hearing for the murder has not been set.