"Oklahoma Could Execute Inmates With Drug Combo That Left Man Gasping," is the AP report filed by Bailey Elise McBride, via HuffPost.
Facing a shortage of its traditional execution drugs, Oklahoma has revised its procedures to include the same two-drug mixture that left an Ohio inmate making gasp-like sounds as his lethal injection was carried out earlier this year, lawyers for two condemned inmates said Monday.
The attorneys said in a court filing that they were notified after business hours Friday that Oklahoma's prison system had adopted five acceptable ways to put death-row inmates to death. All involve multiple doses of sedatives that by themselves could be lethal.
And:
Now the protocols include a megadose of pentobarbital by itself, or the combination of midazolam and hydromorphone, which was used in the January execution of Dennis McGuire in Ohio. McGuire made gasp-like sounds for several minutes before being pronounced dead after 26 minutes.
Another allowed drug combo is midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride — which has never been used in an execution in the U.S., said Jen Moreno, a staff attorney at the University of California Berkeley School of Law's Death Penalty Clinic.
"If the department is going to use one of these other methods, particularly the one that's never been used before, that's really something the courts need to look at and should have an opportunity to review before the department is allowed to use this controversial combo of drugs," she said.
The Tulsa World reports, "Oklahoma executions: DOC's expanded lethal-injection drug combinations raise questions," by Samantha Vicent. The World article also contains a list of the chemicals and doses that form the current Oklahoma execution protocol.
Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie and Director Robert Patton have previously declined to comment on the situation, citing pending litigation. Multiple requests for comment from the department and attorneys representing both sides were not returned Monday night.
Oklahoma's secrecy regarding its execution procedures makes it difficult to make statements regarding constitutionality, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
However, he said it is "concerning" that the current protocol allows the Oklahoma State Penitentiary warden sole discretion on choosing which drug combination will be used, citing an Arkansas law that was found unconstitutional in 2012 that would have given that state's Department of Corrections director similar abilities.
"The issue is that you can't give too much power to the Corrections Department," Dieter said. "I don't know the warden, but I would wonder if the warden has medical training, is aware of how the drugs work, is aware of pain and suffering.
"Oklahoma changes lethal injection procedure," by Graham Lee Brewer in the Oklahoman.
In January, the state of Ohio used a mixture of midazolam and hydromorphone, a never before used combination, in the execution of Dennis McGuire. It took McGuire 25 minutes to die in what defense attorney Allen Bohnert called a “failed, agonizing experiment.”
State Corrections Department spokesman Jerry Massie declined to confirm the change to procedure, again stating the agency would not comment on ongoing litigation. Massie deferred questions Monday to the Oklahoma attorney general’s office.
Earlier coverage of Oklahoma lethal injection issues begins at the link.
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