Gov. halts work on death chamber

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday halted construction of a new death chamber at San Quentin State Prison, the latest setback for California’s beleaguered capital punishment program.

James E. Tilton, who heads the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told reporters in a conference call, “The governor has asked me to stop the project.” The construction had raised alarm among legislators, who protested that they should have been consulted before the work began.

Tilton said the governor “is very concerned about good communications with the Legislature. We should have done a better job of it.”

The halt will push the project back until at least July, further delaying executions, which have been at a standstill since February 2006, when a federal judge halted the execution of Michael Morales.

“This is a first-class fiasco,” said John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee.

California has 660 inmates on death row, making it the largest in the U.S. But faced with an active lobby against the death penalty and enhanced judicial scrutiny, the state has performed only 13 executions since capital punishment was reinstated in 1977.

In the latest complication, Morales, who was condemned to death for the 1981 murder of a Lodi teenager, filed a legal challenge to California’s lethal injection executions. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose ruled in December that the state’s procedures violate the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

California’s protocol, like that of three dozen other states, calls for a three-drug cocktail. The first drug, sodium thiopental, is a fast-acting barbiturate that is supposed to render the condemned inmate unconscious before the other drugs -- pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes the body, and potassium chloride, which causes painful cardiac arrest -- are administered. The judge ruled that the way the state administered the drugs subjected death row inmates to a risk of excruciating pain.

Legal challenges to lethal injection have halted executions in several other states.

Among numerous criticisms, the judge said the existing execution room -- originally the gas chamber -- was too dimly lighted, crowded and poorly designed to allow the execution team to effectively monitor whether inmates received enough barbiturate to deaden the pain. He also said the state failed to provide meaningful training, supervision and oversight of the execution team, allowed the improper preparation and mixing of drugs and had not reliably documented amounts of sodium thiopental taken from the prison pharmacy.

The judge left open the possibility that executions could be resumed if procedures were improved. In response, corrections officials pledged to submit a plan to the court by May 15.

In the meantime, corrections personnel quietly began building a new death chamber. When news of the project trickled out last week, some politicians complained vociferously that the administration was engaged in an end run around the Legislature.

At the time, corrections officials said they had not consulted with the Legislature because the cost of the project would be $399,000. State law requires legislative approval of any project that costs $400,000 or more. State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) scheduled a hearing in Sacramento.

On Friday, Tilton and his chief assistant Steve Kessler acknowledged that the project had already cost $725,000. In addition to the $399,000 that had been budgeted, Kessler said the state had spent $78,000 for a new roof, $26,000 on medical equipment and $168,000 on costs associated with relocating staff, electrical wiring and other changes “needed to get the building ready for the new project.”

In addition, Kessler said, “We found out last week that the state fire marshal had ordered an alarm and sprinkler system that cost $55,000.

“Whatever way you slice it, we are over the $400,000 limit,” Kessler said.

Tilton said one corrections employee would be disciplined for failing to follow proper procedures. He declined to say who the person was or what the punishment would be. Tilton said that the individual did not intend to do anything wrong but that “there had to be consequences.”

Tilton said that until last week, he had not been aware the construction project had begun.

But state corrections officials sent documents to the California Department of Finance about the matter March 7, and other related documents signed by department representatives are dated Jan. 23.

One Jan. 23 document states that “the court directed the creation of a separate lethal injection chamber.” In fact, Fogel, while critical of the current death chamber, did not say that in his December ruling or at any other time.

Barbara O’Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at Cal State Sacramento, said the controversy “adds to the perception that this is a rudderless department that doesn’t follow the rules.”

Romero said she remained outraged about how corrections officials had acted. “They set out intending to evade public scrutiny and government oversight,” she said. Romero added that she had rescheduled her hearing, initially set for next week, to May 8 and would be seeking more details on what occurred in recent months.

Schwarzenegger issued a formal statement Friday saying that his staff “will work cooperatively” with the Legislature on the issue.

His legal affairs secretary, Andrea Lynn Hoch, said the state still plans to meet the May 15 date for submitting an overhaul plan to Fogel, which will include “design plans for a dedicated lethal injection facility.”

Hoch said she was “confident that the state’s revised lethal injection protocol and implementation procedures will satisfy the court and be upheld as constitutional.”

Laird said the state’s plan would be subjected to heightened scrutiny because of the construction controversy.

henry.weinstein@latimes.com