Nevada Announces New Drug Protocol Eight Days Before Scheduled Execution

Eight days before the scheduled July 11, 2018 execution of Scott Dozier, the Nevada Department of Corrections issued a new lethal-injection protocol, switching the drugs the state intends to use in carrying out his execution. On July 3, the Department announced that it plans to use an untested three-drug protocol of the sedative midazolam, the opioid fentanyl, and the paralytic cisatracurium. The last-minute change prompted an emergency filing by the ACLU of Nevada seeking additional information about the drugs the state will use. In November 2017, Nevada had announced a different, but also untried execution method involving diazepam (Valium), fentanyl citrate, and cisatracurium besylate. A Nevada trial court declared that protocol unconstitutional in November after considering medical evidence that the paralytic drug, cisatracurium, could cause Dozier to experience “air hunger” and suffocate to death, while masking signs that he was conscious and suffering during the execution. Nevada prosecutors appealed, and the Nevada Supreme Court overturned the ruling on procedural grounds, allowing the execution to go forward. During the course of the state’s appeal, however, its supply of diazepam expired, leaving the Nevada with the choice of delaying the execution or changing its protocol. The ACLU was particularly critical of the protocol’s switch to midazolam, which has been involved in the botched executions of Dennis McGuire in Ohio, Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma, Joseph Wood in Arizona, and Ronald Smith in Alabama and in problematic executions in Arkansas and Virginia. “I think the state of Nevada should think very carefully about whether it wants to use it, especially because of its very concerning history and its association with botched executions,” said Amy Rose, the legal director of the ACLU of Nevada. “I don’t think Nevada wants to be known for having a botched execution.” The paralytic, they argue, could potentially mask serious pain that prisoners experience during executions. The lawsuit seeks information about the process used to arrive at the protocol, the purchase orders for the drugs, and the use of a new execution chamber. Dozier has waived his appeals, allowing his execution to proceed without completing judicial review of the constitutionality of his conviction and death sentence. He would be the first person executed in Nevada since 2006, and his execution would be the first to take place in the new execution chamber that the state built in 2016 at taxpayer expense of $860,000. The state has executed twelve prisoners since the 1970s, eleven of whom waived their appeals.

(David Montero, Nevada plans to execute inmate next week using controversial paralytic drug, Los Angeles Times, July 3, 2018; Ken Ritter, Nevada Switches Drug to Be Used in 1st Execution Since 2006, Associated Press, July 3, 2018; Michelle Rindels, Nevada announces plans to use controversial sedative midazolam in execution next week, Nevada Independent, July 3, 2018; David Ferrara, DOC lays out protocol for Nevada’s first execution in 12 years, Las Vegas Review-Journal, July 3, 2018.) Read Nevada’s new execution protocol. See Lethal Injection.