A federal appeals court in Richmond will hear arguments on Virginia's method of lethal injection.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will consider the issue Wednesday for the first time since last month's U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding lethal injection in a Kentucky case.

Death row inmate Christopher Scott Emmett claims Virginia's method violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment because it poses a "substantial risk" of harm. His lawyers claim a lower court erred in ruling that the method is unconstitutional only if executioners show deliberate indifference.

Emmett was sentenced to death for the 2001 bludgeoning death of a co-worker in Danville. He came within hours of being executed before the Supreme Court intervened in October.