NEW YORK — Prosecutors don’t always do the right thing. But they did one thing right in the case of Naveed Haq in not asking for the death penalty. Because the Supreme Court has said it’s unconstitutional to execute the mentally ill. The court got that right.

But here’s what they got wrong: lethal injection. Because just this term, the justices ruled that the three drug cocktail preferred by a majority of states is not cruel and unusual, despite evidence to the contrary. Most states that still have the death penalty use lethal injection to do the deed because our Constitution requires that if you’re gonna kill people for their crimes, you can’t be cruel about it.

Washington, where Haq is on trial, is only one of two states that will allow the condemned to choose hanging. They rarely do, because like everyone else, inmates believe lethal injection to be more humane. But it’s not. The American Veterinary Association has rejected lethal injection as too cruel and unusual for pets.

So here’s where the Supreme Court got it wrong. We need to treat people, whatever their crimes, with at least as much humanity as animals. And that’s the Last Word.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

ELIZABETH, New Jersey – Illness has forced a sudden delay in the start of the divorce trial of former New Jersey governor James McGreevey and his estranged wife Dina Matos McGreevey. Court officials have told In Session that there will be no new negotiations today.

On Monday, talks between the couple broke down, forcing the trial. Dina Matos McGreevey was already wearing her dark sunglasses when she stepped out of the elevator with her attorney, John Post and left through the back door of the courthouse here in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The smile on her face didn’t waver, and just minutes later we learned things were not on track for a settlement in the second next phase of the couple’s divorce trial.

Jim McGreevey was already gone when his attorney, Stephen Haller, told the media here the case will now proceed to an open trial with witnesses…the first being the former governor himself. Hallar said that absolutely no progress was made on the issues of child support, alimony and equitable distribution of assets and liabilities. He went on to say these financial issues are more contentious than the child custody phase, which the couple finally agreed on late last week. That settlement is sealed.

Matos McGreevey is asking for child support and alimony along with damages in the amount of approximately $600,000, to compensate for the lifestyle she says she lost in her early exit as first lady of the Garden State. She’s also claiming fraud, because she says the former governor induced her to marry him only to further his political career when he fully knew he was homosexual.

Haller said he believes the trial will last two weeks, and also said there is almost no doubt the fraud claim, which will be addressed separately, will end up at trial. In Session’s cameras are in the courtroom, and we will bring you live action as soon as it starts.

–Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

SEATTLE, Washington – “The spirit of God took control of me.”

That’s what Naveed Haq told defense expert witness and psychiatrist Dr. James Missett about the shooting at the Jewish Federation, during one of their conversations: “It was his belief his trigger finger was being moved, because he couldn’t stop,” said Missett.

While Haq felt distant and surreal during the event, he did notice his aim was “incredibly accurate”- another sign of divine sponsorship in his effort to make a point.

Haq’s defense team is claiming he was insane when he shot and killed one person and wounded five others on July 26, 2006.

–In Session staff

ELIZABETH, New Jersey – Developing now: The divorce case of James McGreevey and his estranged wife Dina Matos McGreevey is headed for the courtroom.

Attorney Stephen Haller has just told media gathered outside the Union County Courthouse that both sides have suspended talks over financial matters and the judge has scheduled the trial to begin tomorrow at 10 a.m. ET.

Haller says he’ll call his client, the former New Jersey governor, as the first witness. Stay tuned to In Session, we’ll broadcast the proceedings live.

–Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

NEW YORK — I went to a celebration at the Innocence Project last week. It was only the second gala they’ve had since the project was founded 16 years ago.

Last year, the first such celebration was held to mark the 200th exoneration in this country based on post-conviction DNA testing. And even with all the wrongful convictions, the misidentifications, the false confessions, the lost years of freedom — even with all of that, there is something to celebrate when innocent people finally achieve justice and when the real perpetrators of crime are brought to it.

But now it’s time to look ahead to an even greater purpose: preventing wrongful convictions before they happen. All those years innocent people have spent behind bars should not be in vain. Their cases can teach us how these mistakes happen in the first place. If we can fix the system where it’s broken, then we will really have a reason to celebrate. And that’s the Last Word.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

ELIZABETH, New Jersey – We waited and waited and then waited some more. Finally, a little after 8 p.m. Thursday night outside the Union County courthouse in Elizabeth, New Jersey, former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey and his estranged wife Dina Matos McGreevey separately exited the courthouse. Their attorneys later said a settlement had been reached concerning the custody and parenting of the couple’s 6-year-old daughter, Jacqueline.

While the agreement is sealed, I watched the demeanor of each participant and my gut tells me the former governor was clearly victorious. As he walked to his car, McGreevey told reporters he was so happy. He seemed to be overcome with joy. Stephen Haller, who represents McGreevey, succinctly added that his client was “absolutely delighted.”

Matos McGreevey on the other hand was silent as she walked past the press; she had a smile on her face, but seemed nervous. Her attorney, John Post, was measured, describing Matos McGreevey as “satisfied.”

Jim McGreevey has been seeking equal parenting time with his daughter for some time now. Whether he got that 50/50 split he wanted is anybody’s guess, but I think it’s darn close to what he was looking for.

Now it is back to square one for the remaining issues which include financials, along with a fraud and libel claim by Matos McGreevey. She asserts in legal documents that the former governor defrauded her into marriage because he knew he was gay but married her anyway. She also alleges her reputation as a hospital fundraiser has been damaged because McGreevey has referred to her in the press as homophobic.

It all gets underway again on Monday. Stay tuned to In Session for all the latest.

–Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

SEATTLE, Washington -- Naveed Haq was taking a prescription drug known to induce homicidal ideas on rare occasions. The disclosure came Thursday as attorneys for the 32-year-old presented their insanity defense for Haq’s actions on July 28, 2006. Haq is accused of fatally shooting one woman and wounding five others at the Jewish Federation of Seattle.

Defense expert Dr. Robert Julien testified Haq, who has a history of mental illness, was prescribed Effexor in July 2005 to help control his depression. The drug, however, is an anti-depressant that is not government-approved for treating bipolar depression – a condition Haq had been diagnosed as having since 1996.

“The incident may well not have occurred had lithium or other diagnosis and treatment with anti-psychotic drugs been continued,” Julien said. Haq was taken off lithium earlier in July 2005 because he complained of tremors, a common side affect of the mood stabilizing drug. Julien, an anesthesiologist and psychopharmacologist, studies how drugs affect the brain and behaviors.

Another doctor testified Haq recognized he had mood disorders beginning in the seventh grade – a sign of bipolar disorder and not schizoaffective disorder. Dr. James Missett explained that bipolar disorders are most likely to present themselves as depression in teenagers. Haq had told Missett he would experience crying or rage for no reason, saying “I would wake up and ask myself what kind of day am I going to have today?”

Dr. James Missett said the symptoms persisted and increased as Haq grew older but that Haq did not tell anyone until he was in dental school at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was subsequently diagnosed as bipolar. According to Missett, medical reports indicate Haq complained he heard voices that would tell him to do violent things, and had hallucinations of people whose bodies would appear to fade and glow. Significant, Missett said, because Haq also later reported “his perception of his own body glowing at the Jewish Federation.”

–In Session staff

NEW YORK — And what more is there to say about the McGreevey, Matos McGreevey mess? Should she have known better? Should he have known himself better? Maybe, but there is one lesson we can all take away from their sordid affair. And it’s a lesson about how not to get a divorce.

So, some dos and don’ts when you say “I do”: Do think about whether you should get married at all. Do communicate with your partner about who you are before you do. Do think about whether to have children and, if you do, do keep their best interests at heart. Don’t lie about who you are. Don’t lie to yourself about who your partner is. And if you do make a mistake or somehow fall out of love with your spouse, do the right thing by her and the children you chose to have.

That means, if you do say “I do,” then do remember your promises. And keep them. And at the very least don’t humiliate your spouse with a public display of your irresistible impulses. Most of all, don’t work through your divorce demons in court. It’s undignified. And it simply doesn’t work. That’s the Last Word.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

SEATTLE, Washington – Jurors in the trial of Naveed Haq learned more details Wednesday about the defendant’s mental state in the years, days before, and possibly during the time he opened fire at the Jewish Federation of Seattle.

Under direct examination by defense attorney Wes Richards, Dr. James Missett, a forensic psychiatrist, testified the severity of Haq’s mental illness “is extraordinarily severe, about as severe as I’ve seen in anybody.”

Missett spent most of the day linking characteristics of bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder with Haq’s history of mental illness. Missett previously testified Haq was unable to tell right from wrong when he killed one woman and wounded five others at the Jewish Federation on July 28, 2006 because he suffers from a bipolar disorder with psychotic features. Haq’s lawyers contend Haq was insane and had a diminished capacity at the time of the shootings.

According to medical records, the 32-year-old first began experiencing mental health problems when he was in high school and was diagnosed as having a bipolar disorder in 1996 while in dental school. Over the next 10 years, Haq experienced delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, depression, mood swings and tried to take his own life. He was treated with various drugs but thought lithium best helped him control his behaviors and moods.

Missett told jurors the severity of Haq’s symptoms increased dramatically in July 2005 after he had been taken off of lithium.

Jurors also heard from a man who first met Haq through a mutual friend in 2004. Like the previous witnesses who had interacted with Haq before July 28, 2006, Kelly Turner portrayed Haq as an unstable individual.

Kelly described Haq as someone who could not keep a job and recalled Haq walking out of a telemarketing job selling ballpoint pens on his first day on the job. “He thought the sales manager was watching him, looking funny at him, standing behind him, and talking about him behind his back.” Turner said Haq also seemed to have “little man syndrome” because he tended to overreact to situations by shouting loudly and using vulgarities.

–In Session staff

NEW YORK — Eliot Spitzer may have topped Jim McGreevey in terms of sex scandal sordidness. But now, as the divorce goes to court, Dina McGreevey is in a very different situation from her fellow former first lady Silda Spitzer. “I was essentially in the dark,” she told the New York Times, “…he never told me he was gay.”

But some are saying she knew more than she’s letting on, because the New Jersey press has reported three-way sexual trysts with the former governor and his wife. And if that’s true, her critics say Dina had to know her husband was gay.

Well, it’s true that most political wives are savvier than they present themselves to be. Who knows, for example, what Mrs. Spitzer knew about her husband’s sexual habits? But Dina McGreevey is a different sort of political wife. One who’s fortunes are more tethered to her ex-husband than Silda Spitzer’s will ever be because Dina never graduated from college. And now she’s forced to tell her story to Oprah and to tell-all in print. Silda’s Harvard law degree is a far more dignified contingency plan.

So listen up, women: get a degree, a career, a job. As much as you love your husband, you may just want something else to fall back on. That way his bad behavior won’t be the Last Word on your future.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor