Barring a dramatic twist, California will go through yet another year without any executions.

In court papers filed Wednesday, the Brown administration and lawyers for death row inmates agreed that the soonest they will finish preliminary legal skirmishing in the long-running challenge to the state's lethal injection procedures will be September 2012 -- a development that assures a federal judge is unlikely to resolve the case before the end of next year.

As a result, California's de facto moratorium on executions, already nearing six full years, will stretch on in a state with more than 720 inmates on death row.

The latest delay comes in a legal challenge to California's lethal injection method, which death row inmates maintain poses an undue risk of a cruel and unusual execution. The case was first filed in 2006 by condemned killer Michael Morales, who was given a last-minute reprieve by former San Jose U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel.

Fogel later found the state's lethal injection procedures were flawed and potentially unconstitutional if not fixed by state officials, who several years later devised new methods and constructed a new death chamber at San Quentin. Those reforms are now being challenged, and San Francisco U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg has inherited the case from Fogel.

Several factors have delayed the case, including a similar challenge out of Kentucky decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, but now there are continued holdups as lawyers on both sides sort out the evidence that would be presented in a hearing to decide the outcome, court papers show.


In the meantime, a separate state court challenge will be reviewed Friday by a Marin County judge who is considering allegations that the state failed to follow proper administrative procedures when it adopted the new lethal injection method.

Through the delays, at least 12 death row inmates have exhausted their legal appeals and would be eligible for execution if the lethal injection method is upheld. Voters, meanwhile, may have a say on the issue before the court case is resolved -- death penalty foes are moving to put a measure on the November 2012 ballot to abolish the death penalty and replace it with life in prison without the possibility of parole.
number on death row
 
More than 720 inmates are on death row in California.