Court rejects ACLU attempt to bar California DAs from execution case FacebookTwitterEmail Three district attorneys, including Steve Wagstaffe of San Mateo County, have asked federal courts to let them intervene in a long-running suit by Death Row inmates over whether lethal injection procedures in California are so flawed that they violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.Gabrielle Lurie / Special to The Chronicle A state appeals court has refused to consider the American Civil Liberties Union’s claim that California law bars local district attorneys from taking part in a legal dispute about execution procedures in cases they prosecuted.