January 2006:

The Army regulation dealing with the death penalty is AR 190-55, newly revised (PDF only so far). http://www.apd.army.mil/pdffiles/r190_55.pdf .

This includes the legal process after sentence and prior to execution, so any counsel handling appeals should check this.

The new AR 190-55 definitely does allow executions in locations other than Ft. Leavenworth. The method is still lethal injection, but that part of the reg is very vague as to the specific substances. Also, official witness and other access to the prisoner could be problematic, especially if the prisoner is at a site other than the Ft. Leavenworth (USDB) prison.

There are n umerous cross-references to public access available in AR 190-47, the Army Corrections System. http://docs.usapa.belvoir.army.mil/jw2/xmldemo/r190_47/head.asp

This publication appears to be a comprehensive one on all areas of corrections; in this context, to who gets access to a military prison. It also is important to anyone representing a military prisoner once s/he is in this system, for whatever reason. This publication also is newly revised as of January 2006, so there's been considerable tweaking all through the system, apparently.

There's vague language in AR 190-55 about "training" the execution detail if the need arises, the method being lethal injection. That may raise an 8th Amendment issue in itself, in that the method, dosages and substances used in such executions are a delicate matter, MP corrections personnel are NOT trained in it as far as we know, and if they bungle it the results can be cruel & unusual.

There are currently s ix prisoners on death row at Ft. Leavenworth, with the usual military appellate procedures; also, as our paper brought out, the military commissions at Gitmo can adjudge death penalties and with no court appeals permitted, the time between trial and execution could be very, very short.

Bob Harmon