Oklahoma State Penitentiary death row inmate John David Duty, 58, is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 16. Duty's latest appeal, which was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4, argued that the state's execution protocol is unconstitutional due to plans to substitute 1 of the 3 drugs used in the lethal injection execution process.
"Earlier this year, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections ran out of sodium thiopental, a key component in the 3-drug cocktail that causes unconsciousness," according to the Associated Press. The department then decided
to use pentobarbital instead, a similar drug and powerful sedative that is commonly used to euthanize animals.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot denied Duty’s appeal, which argued that using the substitute drug would constitute "cruel and unusual punishment." Friot said that attorneys failed to prove that pentobarbital posed a "substantial risk of serious harm." The 2 anesthesiologists who testified at the hearing agreed that a sufficient dose would render an individual unconscious and ultimately lead to death.
Duty was sentenced to death for the Dec. 19, 2001 murder of Curtis Wise, Duty’s 22-year-old OSP cellmate. At the time of the murder, Duty was serving three life sentences for his 1978 convictions of rape, robbery and shooting with intent to kill.
During the 2002 court proceedings, Duty pleaded guilty to the murder, waived the presentation of mitigating evidence during his sentencing and said he wanted the death sentence.
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