From Oklahoma

"Federal judge upholds Oklahoma's lethal injection method," is the title of Michael Baker's report in the Saturday edition of the Oklahoman.

A federal judge ruled Friday to allow the execution next week of a death row inmate convicted of killing a fisherman during a Sequoyah County robbery.

After an all-day hearing in Oklahoma City, U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot ruled the measures Oklahoma's Department of Corrections employs to ensure lethal injection is humane exceed what the U.S. Supreme Court already has determined is constitutional.

"I'm very pleased that he (Friot) recognized the efforts the DOC has gone to, to make sure the protocol is constitutional and humane,” Assistant Attorney General Stephen Krise said.

Federal Public Defender Susan Otto would not comment after the hearing, but was preparing court exhibits for an appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

Friot issued his ruling after nearly seven hours of testimony and arguments for and against the scheduled execution on Thursday of Donald Ray Wackerly II, 40, who was sentenced to die by lethal injection for the 1996 shooting death of a Laotian fisherman.

And:

The main issue argued Friday was whether Oklahoma's short supply of a sedative used during lethal injection was enough to move ahead with the execution.

Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol calls for the sedative to be administered first, followed by a drug to halt breathing, then a drug to stop the heart. The usual sedative is sodium thiopental, of which there is a nationwide shortage.

The execution of death row inmate Jeffrey David Matthews already has been halted because of the shortage.

A day before Matthews' Aug. 17 execution, prison officials told attorneys the only dose they had was expired.

Matthews' execution for murdering his great uncle during a 1994 McClain County burglary has been stayed until after a hearing on Nov. 19.

In previous hearings, prison officials had said they would use a different sedative on Wackerly before deciding on sodium thiopental after obtaining a 5-gram dose from the Arkansas prison system.

Under questioning Friday by Otto, prison officials said they do not have a plan if the only dose of sodium thiopental is not usable, as was the case in the Matthews' execution.

Earlier coverage from Oklahoma begins with this post.  Earlier coverage of the sodium thiopental shortage begins here; related posts are in the lethal injection category index.