A fed­er­al court in Florida will review chal­lenges to the state’s new lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dure, which the state plans to use in an upcom­ing exe­cu­tion on November 12. Florida is the only state in the coun­try to use this new pro­to­col, which begins with the seda­tive mida­zo­lam, fol­lowed by a par­a­lyt­ic drug and potas­si­um chlo­ride. Attorneys for Florida death row inmates allege the process could result in severe pain in vio­la­tion of the 8th Amendment. Megan McCracken, an attor­ney at the death penal­ty clin­ic at the University of California Berkeley School of Law, said, ​“If [potas­si­um chlo­ride is] giv­en to a con­scious per­son who has been inad­e­quate­ly anes­thetized, it caus­es incred­i­ble pain because it acti­vates nerve end­ings. It will feel like burn­ing through the cir­cu­la­to­ry sys­tem until it reach­es the heart, which it stops.” Florida switched to mida­zo­lam due to a short­age of pen­to­bar­bi­tal, an anes­thet­ic used in almost all exe­cu­tions over the past 2 years. Texas, which also has an exe­cu­tion sched­uled for November 12, has obtained pen­to­bar­bi­tal from a com­pound­ing phar­ma­cy. It employs only 1 drug in its exe­cu­tions. Ohio recent­ly announced it will use a new pro­to­col involv­ing mida­zo­lam and hydro­mor­phone in its exe­cu­tion sched­uled for November 14. That pro­ce­dure is also under review in federal court.

Florida’s new pro­ce­dure was first used in the exe­cu­tion of William Happ on October 15. However, he did not con­test the method of exe­cu­tion. The hear­ing will be held on November 5 in the U.S. District Court in Jacksonville.

(K. Crane, ​“Court to exam­ine use of new exe­cu­tion drug,” Gainesville Sun, November 4, 2013). See Lethal Injection and Upcoming Executions.

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