Ohio obtains hundreds of vials of lethal drugs

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkkpFCGqjmIPN4lj4W02kAS1qMbe05Z8CooL7Z1mVBrEpBR78cXBUsHkXQ7aDpHQPvJ893H4uep8vgv3XP_9lIs6Z8pIRiEm0B33Io2r8Nq4PE6f0SEIh_k_HGt0HT6LxcUYVL4M2Yi0/s1600/Midazolam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkkpFCGqjmIPN4lj4W02kAS1qMbe05Z8CooL7Z1mVBrEpBR78cXBUsHkXQ7aDpHQPvJ893H4uep8vgv3XP_9lIs6Z8pIRiEm0B33Io2r8Nq4PE6f0SEIh_k_HGt0HT6LxcUYVL4M2Yi0/s400/Midazolam.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio has obtained hundreds of vials of lethal injection drugs, allowing it to put a condemned child killer to death next month and conduct multiple executions after it, records show.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Inventory logs obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request show the state received supplies three times in September and October for the first drug used in the process, a sedative called midazolam that’s been at the center of several lawsuits over lethal injection.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The records show the state obtained supplies twice in September and October for the second drug used in the process and three times in September for the third drug.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state has said the drugs it plans to use on the first three executions this year are standard drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration, though it won’t say where they came from. Attorneys for death row inmates have raised concerns the state may have to resort to drugs from compounding pharmacies, which produce specialty batches and aren’t subject to the same type of federal regulation as FDA-approved drugs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Attorneys have been unable to identify the suppliers or producers because of the 2015 law and because recent federal court rulings bar them from obtaining the information through usual evidence channels.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The logs show the state could conceivably carry out dozens of executions with these supplies. What’s unclear is the drugs’ expiration dates — information not provided on the logs — which could control whether they’re available for future executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Ohio prisons agency, declined to comment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state plans to execute Ronald Phillips on Feb. 15 for the 1993 rape and murder of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter in Akron. Seven other executions are also scheduled this year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The logs obtained by the AP show:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">— The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction received 750 vials of midazolam on Sept. 9; 750 vials again on Oct. 3; and 100 vials on Oct. 27. That could be enough for as many as 40 executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">— The state received 150 vials of rocuronium bromide, a paralytic drug and the second drug administered, on Sept. 9; and 80 vials of the drug on Sept. 30. Ten of those vials would be enough for one execution.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">— The state received 12 vials of potassium chloride, a drug that stops the heart and the last drug administered, on Sept. 9; 12 vials on Sept. 23; and 150 vials on Sept. 30. That could be enough for dozens of executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ohio and other states have struggled to find legal supplies of execution drugs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Drugmakers have by and large put their drugs off-limits for executions. Last year, Pfizer put seven drugs off-limits, including the three drugs to be used by Ohio. But drugs like midazolam are widespread, found everywhere from dental offices to veterinary clinics, making it difficult to trace the origin.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Executions have been on hold in Ohio since January 2014, when Dennis McGuire gasped and snorted during the 26 minutes it took him to die, the longest execution since the state resumed putting prisoners to death in 1999.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state used a two-drug method with McGuire, starting with midazolam, its first use for executions in the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Attorneys challenging Ohio’s new three-drug method say midazolam is unlikely to relieve an inmate’s pain. The drug, which is meant to sedate inmates, was also used in a problematic 2014 execution in Arizona. But last year, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of midazolam in a case out of Oklahoma.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state says the method is similar to Ohio’s past execution process, which survived court challenges. State attorneys also say the Supreme Court ruling last year makes clear that the use of midazolam is allowable.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A trial challenging the state’s execution method was wrapping up Monday in federal court in Dayton. Testifying for the state last week, a member of the execution team that put McGuire to death said he was puzzled by McGuire’s reaction and “was wondering what was going on.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another execution team member testified he didn’t believe McGuire suffered.</div><br />Source: The Associated Press, January 9, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Ohio obtains hundreds of vials of lethal drugs

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio has obtained hundreds of vials of lethal injection drugs, allowing it to put a condemned child killer to death next mo...

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Missouri Execution Drug Purchases Revealed

<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcmc65p-rakhwiBVT5OV_nMf65_XnW3TUicF5_snfVKMiQGaIIUDHttYXQ6px4Fs0EBfbqU2_GYgsa-Mfs3xdHGI0BMp79FPGYhm1BybDvMvIRUsJW1ScdnyfgnHXO9kCoDhrkSLxY1F8/s1600/The+apothecary+shoppe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Apothecary Shoppe " border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcmc65p-rakhwiBVT5OV_nMf65_XnW3TUicF5_snfVKMiQGaIIUDHttYXQ6px4Fs0EBfbqU2_GYgsa-Mfs3xdHGI0BMp79FPGYhm1BybDvMvIRUsJW1ScdnyfgnHXO9kCoDhrkSLxY1F8/s400/The+apothecary+shoppe.jpg" title="The Apothecary Shoppe " width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Death row inmates spent years fighting over Missouri's use of compounded pentobarbital. A sealed court filing obtained by BuzzFeed News says they may have been fighting the wrong thing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Missouri purchased manufactured drugs for use in recent executions that were made by a company that enacted stringent measures to prevent any state from doing so, BuzzFeed News has learned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A sealed court document obtained by BuzzFeed News shows that the state had, at least sometimes in the past 6 years, bought manufactured pentobarbital - as opposed to the compounded version of the drug inmates spent years fighting over in court - for use in its executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For years, Missouri death row inmates have waged a legal battle with the state over the use of compounded pentobarbital. Manufactured drugs are subject to Food and Drug Administration regulation, while compounded drugs - which have a significantly higher failure rate - are regulated largely by the states.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But a discussion between Attorney General Chris Koster's office and a federal judge in a sealed courtroom indicates that the state previously purchased a manufactured version of the drug. The sole FDA-approved manufacturer of the drug Missouri uses, pentobarbital, is Akorn. Akorn has stringent measures in place in an attempt to keep it out of the hands of executioners, making companies that wish to sell their drug sign an agreement that it will not go to death penalty states. Despite those efforts, it appears the state has been able to obtain some anyway.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Akorn did not respond to a request for comment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The revelation comes months after Mississippi death row inmates attempted to subpoena records from the Missouri Department of Corrections, in an effort to discover a better method of execution than used in Mississippi. Missouri successfully quashed the subpoena after the supplier said it would no longer sell the drugs if its identity were revealed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a July court hearing, lawyers with Attorney General Koster's office argued that even acknowledging they had documents on some of the requests in the subpoena would reveal too much information about its supplier.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I'm going to order a sealed proceeding and banish anyone from the courtroom who is not a party or counsel," Judge Stephen Bough said. "And order confidential restrictions not to discuss or file with the clients or in any other way the information that's discussed in this proceeding, subject to contempt order."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After the court was cleared, an attorney with the Attorney General's office laid out his concerns with revealing whether the state had the documents.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I'm primarily focused on request number 2 for documents about pentobarbital," Assistant Attorney General Greg Goodwin said, according to an excerpt in a later court filing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If [we] identified whether or not there is a responsive document to that request, that answers the question of whether it is or is not manufactured or compounded pentobarbital because manufactured pentobarbital has that information, and compounded pentobarbital does not have a package insert."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"So by merely saying that there exists a document that proves it's manufactured or proves that it's compounded, that answers the question does Missouri use compounded or manufactured pentobarbital," Goodwin said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The judge then stated that there were 3 responsive documents to that request, according to the court filing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The court filing was marked that it should be sealed, but for some reason was available on the federal courts' website, PACER. Shortly after BuzzFeed News approached an attorney representing the execution drug supplier, the filing became sealed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The now-sealed court filing does not identify the supplier of the drug. When Missouri first began using pentobarbital in Nov. 2013, the state bought the drug from an out-of-state compounding pharmacy called the Apothecary Shoppe. The pharmacy was not licensed to sell in Missouri, which under normal circumstances could be a felony.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After its identity was revealed, a death row inmate sued the pharmacy in early 2014. The pharmacy settled out of court, agreeing to no longer sell execution drugs. BuzzFeed News later revealed that the pharmacy had admitted to committing more than 1,000 pharmaceutical violations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When the Apothecary Shoppe dropped out, Missouri discovered a new supplier that it has referred to only by the pseudonym "M7," and has attempted to keep all information about the supplier secret.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Under M7, the state has mysteriously built up a considerable stockpile of execution drugs, something that does not fit with using compounded drugs. Compounded drugs have a shelf-life measured in weeks, while manufactured drugs can last for years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Using pentobarbital from the Apothecary Shoppe and M7, Missouri has executed 19 death row inmates. The leadership that oversaw those executions - Gov. Jay Nixon, Attorney General Chris Koster, and Director of Department of Corrections George Lombardi - are on their way out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nixon was term-limited out, Koster lost his bid to replace him as governor, and both leave office on Monday. Additionally, Lombardi announced his resignation after accusations that his employees retaliated against women who alleged they were sexually harassed by superiors.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 3 offices did not return a request for comment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Missouri is scheduled to carry out another execution at the end of the month.</div><br />Source: BuzzFeedNews, January 9, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Missouri Execution Drug Purchases Revealed

Death row inmates spent years fighting over Missouri's use of compounded pentobarbital. A sealed court filing obtained by BuzzFeed News ...

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Texas AG sues FDA for delaying import of death penalty drug

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4eBEUDKn7jC_gbbXo4_1WVg-feZQna8nMihXzUd6ApqMrnVtuVwhDgs1GEqLupZAzz-f2PAzwWXHZWSmPY3hr_5ROcx0AaAdz2xpTv7jOId8pWSM7eMKmQNYKmzMwqJS3Z3pt9Psq8Qk/s1600/FDA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4eBEUDKn7jC_gbbXo4_1WVg-feZQna8nMihXzUd6ApqMrnVtuVwhDgs1GEqLupZAzz-f2PAzwWXHZWSmPY3hr_5ROcx0AaAdz2xpTv7jOId8pWSM7eMKmQNYKmzMwqJS3Z3pt9Psq8Qk/s400/FDA.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">AUSTIN (KXAN) — Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday his office has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for delaying the state’s importation of a drug used in capital punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The lawsuit argues the FDA’s claimed legal grounds for refusing the drugs’ entry into the United States are invalid, citing an FDA exemption for law enforcement purposes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thiopental sodium, also known as Sodium thiopental, is part of the three-drug cocktail used in lethal injections.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In its December newsletter, the Council of State Governments said, while Texas has 317 inmates on death row, it only has enough of a key lethal injection drug to execute two of them, stemming from a nationwide shortage of the drug.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Attorney General’s Office is asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to declare the FDA’s delay unlawful and compel the agency to make a final decision on the admissibility of the drug, which was detained by the FDA 17 months ago.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“There are only two reasons why the FDA would take 17 months to make a final decision on Texas’ importation of thiopental sodium: gross incompetence or willful obstruction,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The FDA has an obligation to fulfill its responsibilities faithfully and in a timely manner. My office will not allow the FDA to sit on its hands and thereby impair Texas’ responsibility to carry out its law enforcement duties.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In April 2016, the FDA <a href="http://kxan.com/2016/04/21/texas-under-fire-for-importing-lethal-injection-drugs/" target="_blank">blocked an appeal to bring in Sodium thiopental</a> from India. Experts in the FDA said there is not a legal use for the drug in the U.S.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Texas Department of Criminal Justice previously used the drug as part of a three-drug cocktail for executions. Since 2012, Texas has used a large dose of a single powerful sedative to carry out executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The maker of the drug made it off limits to sell to the government for execution purposes. Texas has been using compounding pharmacies to make the drugs needed for executions..</div><br />Source: <a href="http://kxan.com/2017/01/03/paxton-sues-fda-for-delaying-import-of-death-penalty-drug/" target="_blank">KXAN</a>, Andy Jechow, January 3, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Texas AG sues FDA for delaying import of death penalty drug

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday his office has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (...

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Nebraska prisons chief gets new license for death penalty drugs, with 'no immediate plans' to use it

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAh4PRMLVNVUqLZN65-ItpMTZUcPfRRvbsE61WhDEKPByTFMNJf84HU0AByW-N8ARKz7BjrDRPtYkjE03MWTTQ5ysKwyhxfmeTDUyBTwAE9-qPoGPmZyVetVwvgy8me2pPKFGSZQ7zWg/s1600/Nebraska+death+chamber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Nebraska's death chamber" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAh4PRMLVNVUqLZN65-ItpMTZUcPfRRvbsE61WhDEKPByTFMNJf84HU0AByW-N8ARKz7BjrDRPtYkjE03MWTTQ5ysKwyhxfmeTDUyBTwAE9-qPoGPmZyVetVwvgy8me2pPKFGSZQ7zWg/s400/Nebraska+death+chamber.jpg" title="Nebraska's death chamber" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nebraska's death chamber</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">LINCOLN — Nebraska’s top prison official has obtained a new license to import foreign-made death penalty drugs but so far has taken no steps to use it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The federal Drug Enforcement Administration issued the importer’s license to Scott Frakes, director of the State Department of Correctional Services, about two weeks after the Nov. 8 vote that reinstated the death penalty in Nebraska.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Frakes submitted the application Sept. 22, according to documents obtained this week by The World-Herald through an open records request.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“No new effort has been made to import lethal-injection drugs,” said Dawn-Renee Smith, spokeswoman for the Corrections Department, in response to follow-up questions. “There are no immediate plans to utilize the (importer’s) license. The license was renewed in the normal course of business.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The detail comes about two weeks after the department proposed changes in how it carries out lethal injections. Among other things, the department wants to hide the identity of its drug supplier and allow the director to choose what drug or combination of drugs to use.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Smith said corrections officials are focused on the lethal injection protocol changes, which will be the topic of a Dec. 30 public hearing in Lincoln.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2015 the Legislature repealed the death penalty over the veto of Gov. Pete Ricketts. But last month, 61 percent of voters overturned the repeal and reinstated capital punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ricketts has said he will make every effort to carry out the will of the majority and proceed with the executions of the 10 men on Nebraska’s death row.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although state officials have been vague about how they intend to obtain the drugs, the protocol changes seem designed to go through a domestic supplier, most likely an independent compounding pharmacy. Maintaining a valid importer’s license, however, would give prison officials another option.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nebraska’s current lethal injection protocol requires the use of three drugs in a prescribed sequence. State officials have twice imported drugs from India, but the supplies expired before they could be used.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2015 Ricketts announced that the Corrections Department had purchased two of the drugs through the same broker in India. But the state’s attempt to import was thwarted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which said one of the drugs is no longer permitted for use in this country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The broker, Chris Harris, has refused a demand for a refund. The Corrections Department has not taken additional steps to acquire the drugs it paid Harris to deliver, Smith said Thursday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Danielle Conrad, executive director of the ACLU of Nebraska, has been a critic of the plan to shroud parts of the death penalty protocol in secrecy. She said the state’s acquisition of a new importer’s license prompts more questions than answers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The bottom line is this department and this process requires more, not less, transparency to ensure the constitutional rights of all are respected and that Nebraska’s long tradition of open government remains,” Conrad said.</div><br />Source: <a href="http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/nebraska-prisons-chief-gets-new-license-for-death-penalty-drugs/article_b0ccf77a-63e4-5472-bba6-b62b49f39e8e.html" target="_blank">Omaha World-Herald</a>, Joe Duggan, December 15, 2016<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Nebraska prisons chief gets new license for death penalty drugs, with 'no immediate plans' to use it

Nebraska's death chamber LINCOLN — Nebraska’s top prison official has obtained a new license to import foreign-made death penalty drugs ...

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