That's the title of Christopher Moraff's report at Daily Beast. Here's the beginning:
Fifteen years after its last execution, Pennsylvania is finding it difficult to fire up its death machine again.
If the commonwealth gets its way, it will soon strap 58-year-old confessed murderer Hubert Michael Jr. to a gurney inside the State Correctional Institution at Rockview, insert an IV into his vein, and fill his body with lethal chemicals until his heart stops beating. There’s just one little problem. The Department of Corrections can’t seem to get its hands on the drugs it needs to do the job.
On Friday, Gov. Tom Corbett announced that he is postposing Michael’s September 22 execution because the department doesn’t have a stock of lethal chemicals on hand and is still seeking a supplier. Michael, who is rapidly approaching the end of his appeals, would be the first prisoner executed in the Keystone State since 1999, when a judge ruled that condemned torture-killer Gary Heidnik’s desire to end his own life could not be used as evidence of his mental incapacity.
The implications for Pennsylvania are great: The last time the commonwealth executed an inmate who hadn’t voluntarily waived his right to appeal, John F. Kennedy was president. Corbett is eager to break that streak. He’s signed 35 death warrants during his tenure in office, all of which have been stayed. And he has gone on record saying he is “committed to carrying out the sentence” against Michael.
Earlier coverage from Pennsylvania begins at the link.
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