Unable to Score Lethal Injection Drugs, Ohio Postpones All Executions
After a botched execution left a condemned man writhing and gasping for air, Ohio announced this month that it would be returning to an earlier, sodium thiopental-based lethal injection formula. Now the state says it's delaying all executions until 2016 as it struggles to secure a supply of the drug.
According to NBC News, six death row inmates originally slated to be executed in 2015 will have their lethal injections postponed until next year.
Until its sole U.S. supplier stopped making the drug in 2011, sodium thiopental was the drug of choice for lethal injections in America. Since then, states around the nation have experimented with alternative drug cocktails—like the untested formula Ohio gave to Dennis McGuire last January—often with horrific results.
According to one account McGuire "struggled, made guttural noises, gasped for air and choked for about 10 minutes before succumbing to" the experimental lethal injection formula.
Since the European Union bans the export of sodium thiopental for executions, it's unclear how Ohio plans to stock the drug, however a law signed by the state's governor last month promises anonymity to any pharmacy that supplies chemicals for lethal injections.
[Image via AP Images]