Two-time murderer Gary Haugen had voluntarily given up his legal challenges, saying he wants to be executed in protest of a criminal justice system he views as broken. But Kitzhaber on Tuesday said he won’t allow anyone to be executed while he is in office, calling Oregon’s death penalty scheme “compromised and inequitable.”

But in a telephone interview with the Statesman Journal ( http://stjr.nl/tSY0qo ) on Friday, Haugen mocked Kitzhaber.

“I feel he’s a paper cowboy,” he said. “He couldn’t pull the trigger.”…

“I’m going to have to get with some serious legal experts and figure out really if he can do this,” Haugen said. “I think there’s got to be some constitutional violations. Man, this is definitely cruel and unusual punishment. You don’t bring a guy to the table twice and then just stop it.”