Today's Omaha World-Herald reports, "Change in execution drug suggested." It's written by Joe Duggan.
Nebraska might need to change its execution protocol to avoid the “circus sideshow” that has emerged over lethal injections, Attorney General Jon Bruning said Monday.
Current state law requires the use of a three-drug protocol to execute condemned inmates, and one of those drugs is at the center of the death penalty cases of Michael Ryan and Carey Dean Moore.
The state might want to consider changing the protocol to a single drug, Bruning said Monday as he announced a new filing before the Nebraska Supreme Court in an effort to set an execution date for Ryan.
But in the meantime, the attorney general said, Nebraska is on solid legal ground to carry out executions with its existing supply of death drugs.
He called recent allegations that the state was conned into buying stolen drugs “frivolous and irrelevant.”
And:
A high court filing last week by Ryan's attorney included shipping documents that labeled the sodium thiopental samples “not for sale.” The Swiss manufacturer has maintained it gave the drug to the broker to develop a market for medical anesthetic in Africa.
The Kolkata, India, broker, Chris Harris, sold the two samples of the drug to the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services for $5,411. The department announced it had obtained the drug Nov. 3 — the same day the attorney general asked the Supreme Court to set Ryan's execution date.
The dispute surfaced several weeks later when the chief executive officer of the Swiss company asked Nebraska officials to return the sodium thiopental they purchased from Harris. CEO Prithi Kochhar said the company never intended for the drug to be used for executions.
That prompted Jerry Soucie, the lawyer who represents both Ryan and Moore, to argue that Nebraska bought stolen drugs.
The World-Herald also carries, "Emails show efforts to get drug," also written by Duggan. Here's an excerpt from the beginning of the article:
Nebraska made an urgent attempt to obtain a new supply of a lethal injection drug to carry out the execution of Carey Dean Moore last summer but couldn't get the drug in time.
A series of email exchanges released Monday by the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services to The World-Herald provide insights into just how complicated and difficult it has become to obtain sodium thiopental.
The records, along with documents included Monday with a new death-penalty court filing, also show the work Attorney General Jon Bruning was doing behind the scenes to ensure Moore's execution.
The anesthetic — one of three drugs required in Nebraska's lethal injection protocol — no longer is made in the United States. The difficulties in buying the drug internationally have prompted some with a stake in the matter to question whether the state should use a different drug or put an end to executions.
The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services obtained its first supply of sodium thiopental early last year from India, which prompted Bruning to seek an execution date for Moore. The state Supreme Court set a June 14 execution for the man convicted of killing two Omaha cabdrivers in 1979.
Meanwhile, problems emerged when officials with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said Nebraska lacked a license to import the drug. A DEA official from Kansas City planned to seize Nebraska's supply of sodium thiopental, as a federal agent had done earlier in the year in Georgia.
In late April, Bruning threatened to sue the DEA to block the drug seizure. Shortly after, the sides negotiated a two-track approach intended to keep Moore's execution on schedule.
Nebraska agreed to seek a new supply of the drug using the proper procedures. The DEA agreed not to take the state's initial supply while speeding up the process for the state to obtain an importer's license.
But the first track got off track, according to communications requested by The World-Herald through Nebraska's open-records law.
"Bruning's office says lethal injection challenge 'frivolous', is by Kevin O'Hanlon for the Lincoln Journal Star.
Attorney General Jon Bruning's office filed documents Monday with the Nebraska Supreme Court saying a challenge by death-row inmate Michael Ryan's lawyer of the state's purchase of a lethal-injection drug is "frivolous, dilatory and irrelevant."
"I think it's outrageous that the conversation continues to be about the method of execution as opposed to the brutal murders committed by Michael Ryan," Bruning said.
Defense attorney Jerry Soucie of the Nebraska Commission for Public Advocacy has said that the sodium thiopental that Nebraska bought recently was meant to be used for "test and evaluation" purposes in Zambia only and was not supposed to be sold.
And:
Nebraska Department of Correctional Services officials announced Nov. 3 they paid $5,411 for a supply of sodium thiopental made by Naari, a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Switzerland. The news release did not mention that the drug, while made by Naari, was purchased by a middleman named Chris Harris, who in turn sold it to the state.
Don Walton writes, "Heineman: Death penalty under attack," for the Journal Star.
Gov. Dave Heineman said Monday the legal challenge directed against the state's purchase of a lethal injection drug is really an attempt to thwart the death penalty.
"This is all about the death penalty," he said. "They're trying to make sure we don't have a death penalty."
And:
Jerry Soucie, the attorney for convicted murderer Michael Ryan, has argued that the drug supply purchased by the state was to be used only for "test and evaluation" purposes in Zambia, not sold.
The AP filing is, "Nebraska attorney general disputes allegations that state got lethal injection drug illegally," via the Washington Post.
Nebraska’s $5,411 purchase of sodium thiopental marked the second time it has gone to India to obtain the drug.
In January 2011, the Correctional Services Department announced it had obtained 500 grams of sodium thiopental from an Indian company, clearing the way for Nebraska’s first execution by lethal injection. But questions soon arose about the legality of the purchase by Nebraska and other states, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency seized stockpiles of the drug from several states, including Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The DEA declined to say then whether Nebraska’s purchase was under investigation, but state officials sought a new supplier anyway.
"Nebraska obtained execution drug legally, state official says" is by Todd Eastham for Thomson Reuters.
Earlier coverage of the Nebraska lethal injection challenge begins at the link.
Comments