"WA changes execution method," is the AP report written by Rachel La Corte, via Google News.
Washington state has changed its method of execution from a three-drug cocktail to a one-drug system, according to paperwork filed Tuesday with the state Supreme Court.
The filing by state Attorney General Rob McKenna reveals that the state made the decision last Thursday. It wants the high court to dismiss portions of the appeal of death-row inmate Darold Stenson, arguing that a challenge of the drug protocol's constitutionality is now moot.
The state Department of Corrections is in the process of rewriting the execution policy that will make Washington the second state in the nation to use the one-drug method.
Ohio switched in January after the botched execution of Romell Broom that was halted by Gov. Ted Strickland in September. Executioners unsuccessfully tried for hours to find a usable vein for injection, and Broom has appealed the state's attempt to try again.
Ohio has executed three men under the new method.
The three-drug method uses sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. Only sodium thiopental, followed by a saline flush, is used in the one-drug policy. Under the amended policy in Washington state, an additional 5 grams of sodium thiopental will be made available at the time of execution in case the first dose does not kill the inmate.
The motion filed with the court Tuesday said the decision to amend the protocol was made in light of both Ohio's use of the method and "the opinions of experts who have advised the Department."
The new policy will change the presumed method for lethal injection to the one-drug protocol, but the three-drug injection method will be allowed for inmates who request it.
And:
Before deciding to switch to the one-drug method, Washington, like roughly three dozen states, had performed lethal injections by administering successive doses of three separate drugs. The chemicals are intended to render a condemned prisoner unconscious, then paralyze the body, and, finally, stop the heart.
Washington death-row inmates may opt for hanging instead of lethal injection. The last hanging was of Charles Campbell in May 1994. The state's last execution was the lethal injection death of James Elledge in 2001.
The Seattle Times and the Spokane Spokesman-Review today both carry the AP report.
Earlier coverage from Washington begins with this post. The Washington State prison system's top medical doctor resigned his position over lethal injection issues, noted here; related articles are in the lethal injection category index.
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