Advocacy Groups Say US Execution Drug to be Banned Only if Proven Painful

Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center Richard Dieter said that the Oklahoma and Florida courts are approved to execute inmates using the drug that recently caused botched executions, since it has not yet been proven that it causes pain.

WASHINGTON, January 16 (Sputnik) — The Oklahoma and Florida courts are approved to execute inmates using the drug that recently caused botched executions in other US states, since it has not yet been proven that it causes pain, the Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center Richard Dieter told Sputnik on Thursday.

“The courts maintain that the defendants have not proven the executions will be very painful, only that there is a risk they will be painful,” Dieter said. “If there were further botched executions this year involving midazolam, all states would likely cease using it or it would be banned by the courts.”

On Thursday evening, Florida was set to execute Johnny Shane Kormonday, 42, who was convicted of murdering a man during a robbery in Pensacola in 1993. Same day, Oklahoma was set to execute Charles Warner for the murder of his roommate’s 11-month-old daughter in 1997 in Oklahoma City.

“There is a possibility the US Supreme Court could stop these executions and examine the new protocols that some states are using,” Dieter said at the time of the interview. “However, I think it is unlikely they will do so.”

Both Florida and Oklahoma are to execute the inmates with a three-drug mixture, including the sedative midazolam, considered by many to be unconstitutional because it causes pain and suffering, especially as death takes far longer than necessary, local media reported.

The sedative midazolam was used during botched lethal injections in Oklahoma, Ohio, Florida and Arizona in 2014. The incidents occurred during a nationwide debate over the lawfulness of the practice and whether it violates a clause in the US constitution that prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment."

Oklahoma plans to increase the amount of midazolam five times in accordance with a mixture used in over 10 successful executions in Florida.

The death penalty is legal in 32 states. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 35 people were executed in 2014 while there were 39 in 2013.

Additionally, nearly 1,400 executions have been carried out in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 after a four-year suspension of the practice by the US Supreme Court. Florida has executed the fourth highest number, behind Texas, Oklahoma and Virginia. Nearly 400 people are currently on death row in Florida.