By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America – Following numerous botched executions, some states have decided to halt the use of the popular two-drug lethal injection combination of the sedative midazolam and painkiller hydromorphone. Ohio has made the decision to halt the use of this combination after the protracted death of an inmate a year ago, and has since postponed the execution of a prisoner scheduled for February. U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost ordered a halt in executions in Ohio to give attorneys time to prepare challenges to the state’s new plans for lethal injections, last may. Ohio must change any execution procedures at least 30 days before a scheduled execution.

Last January, Ohio was the first state to use the combination of the drugs during the execution of Dennis McGuire for the rape and murder of a pregnant woman in 1993. The execution took 25 minutes and many witnesses said that the inmate gasped and seized for 15 of those minutes. His children have since filed a federal court.

Many states that employ the death penalty are seeking new execution drug formations after pharmaceutical companies refused to supply the drugs, because they no longer want to be associated with capital punishment. In December, Ohio passed a law that would provide confidentiality to pharmacies that chose to prepare lethal formulations. The law is designed to make it easier to obtain compounded pentobarbital, the state’s first choice for executions but which it hasn’t been able to find. However, inmates have challenged this new law, claiming that it violates their right to due process.

Additionally, Arizona has stopped the use of the same two-drug lethal injection cocktail that was used in Ohio after the July execution of an inmate, which took nearly two hours and 15 doses. Arizona’s Department of Corrections Director, Charles Ryan, has publicly announced that the agency will no longer use the drug combination. However, Ryan is adamant that the procedures were “done appropriately and with the utmost professionalism.” The state of Arizona has since put all executions on hold, pending the outcome of a lawsuit stemming from the botched execution.

 

For more information, please see the following:

AL JAZEERA – Arizona to Change Lethal Injection Drugs After Prolonged Execution – 23 Dec. 2014.

BOSTON HERALD – Arizona to Change Drugs It Uses In Executions – 22 Dec. 2014.

REUTERS – Ohio to Change Execution Drugs After Inmate’s Prolonged death – 8 Jan 2015.

YORKTON THIS WEEK– Ohio Lethal Drug Supply Expires April 1, Limiting Executions Without New Drugs – 8 Jan. 2015.