lethal drugs

Oklahoma delays 2 executions because of drug shortage

march 18, 2014

Oklahoma delays 2 executions because of drug shortage

An appeals court in Oklahoma on Tuesday postponed the execution of a convicted murderer slated for Thursday because the state has run out of lethal injection drugs. A second prisoner’s death sentence slated for next week was also delayed.

The case is the latest in a growing controversy nationwide over the use of lethal injection for executions. Sources for the necessary drugs have dried up, and states with death penalties are scrambling to find more.

The state attorney general’s office conceded in court documents Monday that state executioners have run out of pentobarbital, a necessary barbiturate used in the execution process. The state lawyers may have to find another combination of drugs to carry out the executions.

Four members of the five-judge appellate panel on Tuesday ordered that both executions be delayed.

(Source: USA Today)

Oklahoma: No execution drug available for Thursday night

march 17, 2014

Oklahoma’s attorney general says the state does not have all of the lethal drugs necessary to carry out an execution set for Thursday.

Two inmates, scheduled to die this month, have been fighting their executions while they seek more information about Oklahoma’s execution procedures.

Despite the drug shortage, state lawyers are still fighting their request in court.

State leaders say they are trying to get the execution drugs and will change protocols if necessary to execute Clayton Lockett this Thursday night at 6:00.

The attorney general’s office said in briefs filed with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday that a deal to obtain pentobarbital and vecuronium bromide from a pharmacy had fallen through.

Pentobarbital is a sedative; vecuronium bromide is a muscle relaxant.

(Source: KRMG)