DENVER—Attorneys for the man convicted of ambushing and killing four people at a Colorado pizzeria in 1993 filed a lawsuit Thursday saying the state's plans for his execution in August could cause prolonged and excruciating pain, a violation of the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The lawsuit also says the state Corrections Department is planning in secret for the execution, violating Dunlap's due process rights.


Dunlap, then 19, had recently lost a job there.





The lawsuit filed Thursday says Colorado's death penalty law, which mandates execution by lethal injection, is too vague because does not specify all the drugs and dosage amounts that can be used.

It also says the law does not list required qualifications for the people who carry out the execution nor include medical safeguards, and that exposes Dunlap to the risk of "conscious and agonizing suffering."

The suit claims the Corrections Department has a "secret protocol" for executions, and that officials plan to use a combination of three execution drugs when the statute calls for using a single drug.

A spokeswoman for the department said officials had no immediate comment.

Bobby Stephens, who was shot in the face at the restaurant but survived, told KUSA-TV in Denver Wednesday ( that Dunlap should be executed.

Stephens said if someone takes a person's life unwillingly in such a horrific manner, the person shouldn't be allowed to live.


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