The Guardian reports, "Oklahoma seeks to execute convicts with veterinary drug." It's written by Chris McGreal in Washington. Here's an extended excerpt:
Oklahoma is to ask the courts for permission to execute condemned men with a drug commonly used to put down animals because of a national shortage of an anaesthetic crucial for lethal injections.
The move follows legal action by death penalty opponents in Britain to prevent export to the US of the anaesthetic, sodium thiopental, after a supply manufactured in the UK was used to put to death a convicted murderer in Arizona last month.
Oklahoma's attorney general is to ask a court next week to be allowed to use pentobarbital, a drug used by veterinarians to put down animals, in the execution of a death row inmate, John Duty, in December. The state describes the drug as "an ideal anaesthetic agent for humane euthanasia in animals" and not substantially different to sodium thiopental, an anaesthetic used as the first of three drugs in a lethal injection.
If the court approves the move it is likely to open the way for other states to follow suit. Duty's lawyers oppose the use of pentobarbital because they say it is untested on humans and "could well result in a torturous execution".
However, pentobarbital has been used for doctor-assisted suicides in Oregon and by the Swiss euthanasia group, Dignitas.
Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Centre in Washington, welcomed the prospect of next week's court hearing because he said it will be a chance to consider whether the right drugs are being used in executions.
Dieter said that, arguments about the merits of the death penalty aside, if it is going to be applied there needs to be a more rigorous examination of the science involved.
"The use on animals has been a rather thoughtful process involving veterinarians. You don't have doctors selecting these drugs for lethal injections. There hasn't been a discussion of the best science," he said.
"I don't trust that the Oklahoma department of corrections knows enough to make these decisions. So put it in a court and call the doctors. A lot of this has been done in the dark. Having it more out in the open should go along with any changes that are contemplated putting aside whether the death penalty makes sense at all."
Today's Tennessean reports, "Court sets hearing for condemned inmate."
Death row inmate Stephen Michael West was slated for execution tonight but was granted a temporary stay after he filed a lawsuit challenging the lethal injection protocol.
Davidson County Chancery Court will hold hearings on Nov. 18 and Nov. 19 at 9 a.m.
The Tennessee Supreme Court granted a temporary stay so the court could hear evidence stemming from the lawsuit that claims that those executed by lethal injection suffer unconstitutionally severe pain.
West’s execution was postponed through Nov. 30.
An AP brief is from WRCB-TV.
Related posts are in the lethal injection index; earlier coverage from Oklahoma and Tennessee, at the links. More on the Supreme Court's 2008 ruling in Baze v. Rees is via Oyez.
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