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FLORIDA:

An attorney for death row inmate Judi Buenoano, who may be the next woman executed in the United States, told the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday sealed FBI documents might weaken the case against her client.
Buenoano, 54, who has been nicknamed the "Black Widow," is scheduled to be electrocuted March 30 for the death of her 1st husband. She also was convicted of drowning her handicapped son and plotting to blow up her boyfriend.
Buenoano's husband, Air Force Sgt. James Goodyear, died of an apparent heart attack shortly after returning home from a tour of duty in Vietnam in 1971.
But an investigation 13 years later revealed that he had been poisoned.
Buenoano was convicted in 1985.
Sylvia Smith, Buenoano's state-appointed attorney, said she has been unable to see sealed documents that might cast doubt on the accuracy of FBI analysis of arsenic-laced pills that were used to convict Buenoano.
But state prosecutors, who pointed out that Buenoano has been convicted of multiple murders, told the court that Smith was only trying to postpone her client's execution date.
"This case clearly shows that (Smith) would like to start this case all over again," said Katherine Blanco, assistant attorney general arguing against the appeal.
In April, 1997, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a report detailing the results of an 18-month investigation of certain components of the FBI's laboratory. The records contained allegations critical of the reliability and integrity of some of the examiners. Much of the report was sealed.
Smith argued that the FBI report could bolster her case if it showed that the scientist or lab was incompetent. A lower court ruled against her and the record remained sealed.
When Texas executed Karla Faye Tucker on Tuesday, 14 years had passed since a woman was put to death in the United States.
As Buenoano's execution date approaches, death penalty opponents are expected to focus attention on the fact that Buenoano would be the 1st woman executed in Florida since 1848.

(source: Reuters)