The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area unconstitutional by the New York Court of Appeals.67 As a result, no defendants may be sentenced to death until the State Legislature corrects the errors in the statute. New Mexico repealed the death penalty for offenses committed after 1 July 2009. Two persons previously convicted remain under sentence of death and one person is currently on trial in a case where the state is asking for the death penalty.68 Method of execution Authorized methods of execution vary from state to state, although most use lethal injection. However, the last four federal execution dates were stayed to allow a federal court to consider whether lethal injection as a method of execution violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.69 Although the Supreme Court, in Baze v. Rees, 553 U.S. 35 (2008), rejected a claim that the typical lethal injection protocol, as employed by the federal government and the vast majority of states, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, a de facto moratorium on executions exists in four states – California, Delaware, Kentucky and Maryland – over lethal-injection issues.70 The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals of Delaware, however, ruled on 1 February 2010 that the death penalty is constitutional, clearing the way for executions to be carried out again in the state.71 In Nebraska, executions were halted in 2008, when the state’s Supreme Court ruled electrocution unconstitutional as a means of execution. Despite the fact that the Nebraska Legislature approved lethal injection as a method of capital punishment in 2009, executions have not been carried out because the new lethal-injection law is currently being challenged in courts.72 Executions also remain effectively halted due to issues over lethal injection in Nevada and North Carolina. A new method of execution was introduced in Ohio on 8 December 2009. Kenneth Biros reportedly became the first person in the United States to be executed with a one-drug, intravenous lethal injection.73 67  People v. Taylor, 9 N.Y.3d 129 (2007), Response from the Delegation of the United States to the OSCE to the ODIHR questionnaire on the death penalty, 18 August 2010. 68  Ibid. 69  Ibid. 70  Ibid. 71  Hands Off Cain 2010 Report, Delaware Profile, Hands Off Cain website, 1 February 2010, <http://www.handsoffcain.info/bancadati/schedastato.php?idstato=13000081&idcontinente=26>. 72  Response from the Delegation of the United States to the OSCE to the ODIHR questionnaire on the death penalty, op. cit., note 67. 73  “New Execution Method Is Used in Ohio”, The New York Times, 8 December 2009, <http://www.nytimes. com/2009/12/09/us/09ohio.html>. 12