NASHVILLE (AP) — With an inmate set to be executed next week, Tennessee's Supreme Court is hearing arguments Wednesday about the constitutionality of its lethal injection method.

The lawsuit by more than two dozen inmates claims the state's three-drug method of execution causes severe pain and suffering. Attorneys for the inmates want the court to consider the affidavit of an expert witness who claims the August execution of Billy Ray Irick was "torturous."

Attorneys for the state oppose the introduction of the new evidence. They're asking the high court to uphold a lower court's July finding that its method of execution is legal.

Edmund Zagorski is scheduled to be executed on Oct. 11. He was sentenced in 1984 in the slayings of two men during a drug deal.