State Files New Execution Procedure

The state's new execution policy filed in federal court today would allow prisons officials to execute death row inmates with doses of a lethal injection drug prepared by specialized pharmacies, amid difficulties securing the sedative last used by the state. The policy allows compounding pharmacies to provide future supplies of pentobarbital. The state's supply expired with the September 25th execution of Harry Mitts Junior. The new policy also establishes an alternative intravenous drug combination if expired pentobarbital is deemed unusable or if new supplies of the drug are unavailable. A federal public defender says he's reviewing the changes for any impact on federal litigation and future executions. The original manufacturer of pentobarbital, Denmark-based Lundbeck, announced in 20-11 it was making the drug off-limits to executions. That prohibition remained when the firm sold the product to Illinois-based Akorn Incorporated.