California's death penalty will remain on hold for now, following a state appeals court ruling Thursday.
The court ruled that the California Department of Corrections "substantially failed to comply with mandatory procedural requirements of the state code when it comes to lethal injection procedures."
In a 28-page ruling, the 1st District Court of Appeal invalidated the way the state performs lethal injection to death row inmates.
The ruling sends the state back to the drawing board when it comes to finding a way to execute prisoners, according to a report in the Mercury News.
The appeal court upheld a ruling by a Marin County judge.
One of the tripping points for the judges is the fact that San Quentin continues to use a three-drug lethal injection method as opposed to a single drug execution option being embraced by a number of other states.
Read the ruling below:
Local
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Thursday's decision is seen as another setback for death penalty supporters in California.
No executions have been done in California since 2006 as a result of legal challenges to the state's lethal injection procedures in both the state and federal courts.
Right now there are now more than 700 inmates awaiting execution on death row, including more than a dozen who have exhausted their legal appeals and would be eligible to be executed immediately if the state resumed executions.
