Lorain County Court of Common Pleas Judge James Burge held yesterday that use of the three-drug lethal injection “cocktail” considered by the U.S. Supreme Court in Baze v. Rees violates Ohio’s lethal injection statute because it does not cause death “quickly and painlessly.” As the NYT reports here, the judge ordered the administration of a large dose of a single drug instead. Because he invalidated the lethal injection protocol on state statutory grounds, the judge did not consider the state or federal Constitutional claims asserted in the case.