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