Oklahoma executes John David Duty with drug used to euthanize animals

John David Duty

WASHINGTON — A US state executed a convicted murderer with an animal drug for the first time because of an anesthetic shortage, in a move critics panned as a test on a human guinea pig.

Oklahoma executed John Duty, 58 -- who in 2001 strangled his 22-year-old cellmate, Curtis Wise, while serving three life sentences -- with pentobarbital, normally used by veterinarians to put animals to sleep.

"The procedure started at 6:12 pm our time (0012 GMT). John Duty was pronounced dead at 6:18pm," Jerry Massie, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, told AFP.

"His last words were: 'To the family of Curtis Wise: I'd like to make my apology. I hope one day you'll be able to forgive me, not for my sake but for your own... Thank you, Lord Jesus. I'm ready to go home,'" Massie said.

The Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based group that monitors capital punishment, confirmed that Duty was the first death row inmate to be executed using the drug.

For months now, several US states have struggled to find supplies of sodium thiopental -- the first and most crucial of three drugs used in lethal injections -- after its sole US manufacturer Hospira ran out of stock.

The company will resume production of the drug early next year, forcing some states to suspend executions and others to import the drug from other states or from overseas with government approval.

Oklahoma's decision to use the animal drug was approved by a US court last month in a ruling that may lead other states to adopt the procedure.

The appeals court found that the amount of pentobarbital to be used was "sufficient to induce unconsciousness in an inmate and indeed would likely be lethal in most, if not all, instances."

Capital punishment specialists meanwhile warned that the drug had not been properly vetted and might not keep inmates unconscious during the more painful subsequent injections that kill them.

And Duty's lawyers had expressed fears in court documents that their client would be used as a "guinea pig" to test the new method of execution.

In its response, Oklahoma stressed that, since pentobarbital has been widely used on animals and as a human anesthetic, its use on inmates is "hardly experimental."

Source: AFP, December 16, 2010

Drug used in Okla. execution could gain wider use

MCALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Death penalty experts say a sedative Oklahoma used to execute an inmate that is commonly used to euthanize animals could become more popular.

That's because of a nationwide shortage of a key ingredient in several states' lethal injection formulas.

John David Duty is believed to be the first person in the United States whose execution included the use of pentobarbital. The 58-year-old was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.

Oklahoma and several other states traditionally have used the barbiturate sodium thiopental to put an inmate to sleep. They then use two other drugs to paralyze the muscles and stop the heart.

But the only U.S. maker of sodium thiopental, Hospira Inc., says new batches won't be available until "the first quarter" of next year.

Source AP, December 17, 2010


Oklahoma executes man using new drug combination

Oklahoma State Penitentiary

Oklahoma man executed with drug mix that includes sedative commonly used to euthanize animals

Oklahoma officials executed a convicted murderer Thursday [Dec. 16, 2010] using a drug combination that includes a sedative commonly used to euthanize animals, after a nationwide shortage of a key ingredient forced the state to tinker with the usual formula.

John David Duty was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.

The 58-year-old, who was sentenced to die for strangling his cellmate nearly a decade ago, is believed to be the first person in the United States whose execution included the use of pentobarbital.

Duty and 2 other death-row inmates had challenged the state's decision to use pentobarbital, arguing it could be inhumane because a person could be paralyzed but still aware when a painful 3rd drug is administered to stop the heart. On Tuesday, a federal appeals court upheld a ruling against the other 2 inmates. Duty did not take part in the appeal.

Several states have been scrambling since Hospira Inc. -- the only U.S. manufacturer of the barbiturate normally used in executions -- said new batches of sodium thiopental could be available "in the first quarter" of next year.

Oklahoma obtained a dose of sodium thiopental from Arkansas for its last execution in October, but couldn't secure any more, said Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie.

Executions have been delayed in California, Arkansas, Tennessee and Maryland as a result of protocol changes, including the use of new drugs, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. In Ohio and Washington, laws were passed to allow for the use of sodium thiopental alone, he said.

But Oklahoma's law calls for the use of a fast-acting barbiturate to be administered 1st, which gave the state the flexibility to use pentobarbital, Massie said.

"I think Oklahoma is the only state where this issue has come to a head over a new drug," Dieter said. "The other states that haven't been able to do it, it's because the state courts wanted more time to review the overall protocol changes."

Experts testified at a November federal court hearing that no other U.S. state uses pentobarbital during executions. Massie and Dieter both said before Thursday's execution that they believed Duty would be the 1st U.S. inmate put to death using the drug.

"I have not seen that (pentobarbital) has been used before in this context,'" Dieter said. But, he noted, "Some states don't say exactly what drugs are used and have kept that out of the public eye.'"

Duty becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma and the 94th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. Only Texas (464) and Virginia (108) have executed more inmates than Virginia since the death penalty was re-legalized in the US on July 2, 1976.

Duty becomes the 46th inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1234th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin, December 17, 2010