Texas conducted its 13th execution of 2013, last night in Huntsville. It was the 505th post-Furman Texas execution since 1982. Texas is responsible for more than 37% of the nation's post-Furman executions.
"Arturo Diaz Executed In Texas For Murder Of Michael Nichols," is AP coverage filed by Michael Graczyk. It's via HuffPost.
The execution of Arturo Diaz, 37, was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court refused a last-ditch appeal to block his lethal injection. It was the 13th execution this year in Texas, the nation's most active capital punishment state.
And:
Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials have used pentobarbital as the single execution drug for more than a year, but Diaz became the first in the state given the sedative procured from a vendor or manufacturer the prison agency has declined to identify.
Diaz's reaction to the drug was similar to other Texas inmates who have been executed with pentobarbital. He took several deep breaths, began snoring and ceased movement in less than a minute.
The expiration date of the department's existing inventory passed this month, possibly diluting its potency. Like other death penalty states, Texas officials needed to go to nontraditional sources because the usual suppliers bowed to pressure from capital punishment opponents and refused to make their product available.
KTRE-TV posts, "New lethal injection drug to be used tonight in Huntsville," by Michelle Reed.
Just last month, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice announced it was out of the drug it uses for lethal injections. But tonight, one man is set to die using a new form of the lethal injection even though the origins of the drugs are still a mystery.
TDCJ officials are planning to use the new form of pentobarbital, a barbiturate commonly referred to as a physician-assisted suicide drug. The expiration date of the department's existing lethal drug inventory did pass this month, and officials announced in August that they were looking into nontraditional sources for execution.
However, TDCJ spokesperson told KTRE News today that he will not comment on the amount of the drug they have left and where the new drug has come from.
"TDCJ's current execution protocol calls for using the drug pentobarbital for executions. That is the drug that will be used tonight. Our execution protocol has not changed and we have no immediate plans to do so. I will not comment beyond this statement at this time," Clark said in the written statement.
To date there have been 27 executions in American death penalty states this year; a total of 1,347 post-Furman executions since 1977.
According to TDCJ, seven additional executions have been scheduled by Texas state district courts, including three in 2014.
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