DEATH PENALTY CHOICE UPHELD.

Byline: Stacy Finz Daily News Staff Writer

Death-row inmates now have a choice between execution by lethal injection or poisonous gas, according to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Tuesday.

By a 7-2 vote, the justices set aside a California ruling that states that death-row inmates may only die by lethal injection. And they ordered a federal appeals court to re-examine a 1994 ruling that defines the use of gas chambers as ``cruel and unusual'' punishment that should no longer be used in the state.

The Supreme Court's order states the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should reconsider its decision in light of a new California law that says a condemned prisoner should have a choice between lethal injection and the gas chamber.

Mike Farrell, a Sherman Oaks actor and president of Death Penalty Focus of California, an organization that opposes capital punishment, said inmates should not be given a choice.

``Are we as a society in the business of fulfilling death wishes?'' he asked in reaction to the highest court's ruling.

But Dane Gillette, a California senior assistant attorney general and state capital punishment coordinator, saw Tuesday's ruling as a victory for the state.

``It's always been the state's position that the gas chamber is not cruel or unusual (punishment),'' said Gillette, who believes inmates have a right to choose.