Kavanaugh to be Key Vote in Missouri Death Penalty Case

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh seems open to the arguments of a Missouri inmate in Kavanaugh’s first death penalty case. The new justice could hold the key to the outcome.

The high court heard arguments Tuesday over inmate Russell Bucklew’s claim that his rare medical condition could result in severe pain during lethal injection.

Bucklew says a tumor in his throat is likely to rupture and bleed in a lethal injection execution. He is on death row for a 1996 murder.