Mr. Workman's last-minute appeals included challenges to the state's revised lethal injection protocols.

In California, a federal judge ruled last year that the state's lethal injection protocol violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The average time to death once a lethal injection protocol has been started is about 7 - 11 minutes.

Supporters of the death penalty agree that the use of pancuronium bromide is not absolutely necessary in the lethal injection protocol.

In addition to the federal case challenging the lethal injection protocol, state proceedings have provided an additional basis for halting executions.

But so far, in this chapter of the nation's long and tangled history with the death penalty, no state has moved to alter its lethal injection protocol.

The execution has been postponed at least until September, when the court will examine the state's lethal injection protocol.

"Which brings us to the coronal injection protocol you have been calling Sunseed," tr'Mahan said.

Thirty-six other states have similar lethal injection protocols.

However, it is also used as part of the lethal injection protocol in many US states.