Kentucky is dropping its proposed use of a two-drug execution method after the prolonged deaths of inmates in two other states that used a similar means to carry out death sentences.
In a filing Thursday in Franklin Circuit Court, prosecutors cited "recent events in other states" as the reason for seeking to rewrite the regulations over the next six months. The move came just less than two months after Judge Phillip Shepherd ordered the state to be prepared to explain how and why it chose the two-drug method and the doses proposed.
Kentucky, which modeled its execution process on Ohio's, proposed using compounded drugs and of using midazolam and hydromorphone.
Two states have used midazolam in a two-drug protocol: Ohio and Arizona. Both of their executions in 2014 were prolonged, accompanied by the inmates' gasping.
Jennifer Brislin, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, said the experience of Ohio and Arizona left questions about the effectiveness of the drug combination.
"The Commonwealth of Kentucky will not take any risks with its protocols for lethal injection; therefore, we are going to eliminate this methodology from our regulations," Brislin said.
Lethal injections have undergone scrutiny in recent years as the drugs used to carry out the process have become tougher for states to get as pharmaceutical companies barred their use for executions. It wasn't immediately clear Friday morning if Kentucky is the first state to drop the two-drug concept without having used it first.
"It's oftentimes not always clear what states are doing," said Deborah Denno, a Fordham University law school professor who studies the death penalty.
Richard Dieter, head of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., said other states including Oklahoma and Louisiana have two-drug methods on the books, but haven't used them and, given what happened in Ohio and Arizona, are unlikely to in the future.
"I also think Ohio and Arizona will abandon it, having used it with bad results," Dieter said.
Source: ABC News, Nov. 14, 2014
