"Death row inmate’s lawyers urge court to halt execution, cite drug question," is the AP report filed by Jim Salter, via the Kansas City Star.
Attorneys for a condemned Missouri inmate have asked a federal court to postpone his lethal injection, claiming two top officials with the Department of Corrections lied under oath about use of the sedative midazolam in executions.
A petition filed late Thursday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City asks that Earl Ringo Jr.’s execution, which is scheduled for Wednesday, be put on hold until a hearing can determine whether his constitutional rights have been violated. Ringo was sentenced to die for killing two people during a restaurant robbery in Columbia in 1998.
Midazolam has come under scrutiny after it was used in botched executions earlier this year in Ohio, Oklahoma and Arizona. Missouri’s lethal injection drug is pentobarbital.
St. Louis Public Radio posts, "State Reveals More Details Of Midazolam Use When Inmates Are Executed," by Chris McDaniel.
Lawyers representing inmate Earl Ringo are asking a federal judge to halt his upcoming execution, citing new information uncovered in a St. Louis Public Radio investigation.
Earlier this week, we reported that Missouri has been using midazolam in its execution process. Midazolam, a sedative, is a controversial execution drug that has been used in three botched executions in the United States this year.
And:
Early Saturday morning, the state attorney general's office filed a response, arguing that the officials did not commit perjury.
"[Midazolam], valium and lidocaine are not used as lethal chemicals and are not part of the execution itself," Attorney General Chris Koster's office said. He argues that midazolam is part of its "pre-execution" procedure.
Earlier coverage from Missouri begins at the link.
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