Today's Wall Street Journal reports, "Plea for Execution Drug." It's written by Nathan Koppel.
Oklahoma is preparing to argue in court next week that a drug used to euthanize animals can also be used to execute death row inmates amid a nationwide shortage of an anesthetic used in executions.
It is one of a number of states scrambling to find the drugs needed to perform capital punishment due to a shortage of thiopental sodium, the only anesthetic that states have so far used in lethal injections, according to lawyers.
And:
Oklahoma, which is scheduled to execute John David Duty on Dec. 16, has said that veterinarians regard pentobarbital, which it is proposing as a substitute anesthetic for death row inmates, "as an ideal anesthetic agent for humane euthanasia in animals," that is "substantially" similar to thiopental, according to a court filing last month.
If approved, pentobarbital could be a new standard for lethal injections.
Attorneys for Mr. Duty, who was sentenced to death for murdering his cell mate in 2001, have said in court papers they didn't want their client to be a guinea pig for pentobarbital. The drug "is untested, potentially dangerous, and could well result in a torturous execution," the attorneys stated in a court filing. Oklahoma City federal judge Stephen Friot is due to hear the arguments next week.
"Okla. prisoner would be euthanized like animal," by Brian Freskos in the Star News Online notes the Journal report.
Earlier coverage of lethal injection issues begins with this post.
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