Nevada to execute death row convict with never-used-before cocktail of drugs
Nevada is planning to use a cocktail of drugs as it's first lethal injection in 12 years.
The three-drug cocktail, including a powerful synthetic opioid that has been blamed for overdoses nationwide, hasn't been used in any state of the country, claimed prison officials.
The lethal injection is scheduled to be administered to Scott Raymond Dozier whose execution is scheduled on July 11. Dozier was put on death row since 2007, for the murder of 22-year-old Jeremiah Miller, who was one of Dozier's drug associates in 2002.
Dozier, aged 47, voluntarily waived his appeals on October 2016 and wrote a letter to District Judge Jennifer Togliatti asking her to expedite his execution.
Reports state that a revised and redacted death penalty protocol calls for injecting Dozier with midazolam to sedate him and then opioid fentanyl to slow or possibly stop his breathing and then finally administering a drug called cisatracurium which paralyzes the muscles.
Dozier's execution, which was scheduled for November 2017, was postponed after the third drug in the lethal injection became the focus of a court challenge. A state court judge in Las Vegas reportedly warned prison officials against using the particular drug in the execution process.
The ruling from Togliatti came after federal public defenders challenged the constitutionality of the execution protocol and enlisted a medical expert witness who said that the drug could possibly render a person immobile as they suffocated and could also "mask" signs of struggle or pain, according to reports.
The state Supreme Court, in May, rejected the district judge's ruling on procedural grounds. The justices, however, did not give a ruling on the constitutionality of a lethal injection method. Several critics of this execution procedure have deemed it as risky and experimental.
A Columbus, Ohio surgeon and lethal injection expert, Dr. Jonathan Groner, said that the combination of drugs could cause unexpected results and that injection with high doses of fentanyl may lead to seizures.
Groner, while talking to the Associated Press, said: "In anesthesia, more is not always better. Side effects can happen. Extreme doses may cause seizures or other problems. But if a person has enough paralyzing agent in their system, you won’t be able to tell if they’re suffering."
A protest in state court was filed in Carson City by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Nevada on Tuesday, citing that there is not more time to review the safety and legality of the execution plan. ACLU had earlier deemed the execution process as less humane than the procedure used to put down animals.
Although ACLU did not seek a delay in Dozier's execution, the organization's lawyer Amy Rose, however, said that the public deserves to know how the state intends to execute a death row convict, according to the New York Post.
Dozier said that he does not really care if he suffers during the execution process, adding that he just wants to get this over with. Officials, however, have said that he might change his mind at the last minute or once the injection is administered.
Nevada's last execution occurred in 2006 when rape and murder convict Daryl Linnie Mack volunteered for lethal injection.