Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said exe­cu­tions in the state are unlike­ly to resume for at least anoth­er year because of the scarci­ty of lethal injec­tion drugs. ​“Death row is sort of in lim­bo today,” he said, adding that efforts to find alter­na­tive drugs have been divert­ed due to oth­er state con­cerns. Nebraska’s last exe­cu­tion was in 1997, by elec­tro­cu­tion. The state’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­col calls for use of sodi­um thiopen­tal, which is no longer being man­u­fac­tured for the U.S. Earlier, the state had obtained sodi­um thiopen­tal from a dis­trib­u­tor in India, but the drug expired this year. The Department of Corrections would have to rewrite its pro­to­col to allow for dif­fer­ent drugs. State Sen. Ernie Chambers said he would work to pre­vent such changes: ​“I would fight tooth and nail… against what Bruning is talk­ing about.” Bruning, who is leav­ing office in two months, said it will be up to the new gov­er­nor and attor­ney gen­er­al to decide ​“if and when” they want to address the state’s death penalty.

(M. Stoddard, ​“Jon Bruning says oth­er crises have ​‘divert­ed’ state from resolv­ing lethal injec­tion prob­lems,” Omaha World-Herald, October 28, 2014). See Lethal Injection and Death Penalty in Flux.

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