US top court won't decide lethal injection challenge

WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) The Supreme Court today declined to decide if a drug combination used to execute convicted murderers violated the U S Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The justices refused to hear the appeal by a death row inmate who said one of the drugs may inflict inhumane pain and that 30 states, including his state of Tennessee, have banned that drug's use for the euthanasia of animals.

The high court at the end of April heard arguments in a similar case from Florida on whether death row inmates can bring a last-minute challenge to the lethal injection method under a federal civil rights law.

A decision is expected by the end of June, but the Florida case does not address the same constitutional issues.

REUTERS PG BST1956