Court Authorizes Substitute Drug for Oklahoma Executions

Federal Court Rules Animal Sedative is Appropriate for Lethal Injection

Oklahoma received the green light to substitute pentobarital for sodium thiopental during executions. Oklahoma uses a three-drug cocktail to carry out lethal injection. The federal judge's ruling will allow Oklahoma to be the first state to use a sedative other than sodium thiopental.

According to the Daily Oklahoman, death-row inmate Jeffrey Matthews had his execution stayed while his attorneys and the state's attorneys argued over which sedative to use. Matthews execution will now be rescheduled by the state Court of Criminal Appeals. Earlier this month fellow death-row inmate John David Duty, whose execution is scheduled for December 16th, joined the request to delay the executions.

The thrust of the inmates' objection is a nationwide shortage of sodium thiopental, which is one of three execution drugs administered during lethal injection in most states. In Ohio and Washington state sodium thiopental is the only drug used for lethal injection. Oklahoma officials will now use pentobarbital, a drug usually used for animal euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in Oregon.

According to the Oklahoman, Matthews was convicted of killing his great uncle during a 1994 McClain County home-invasion. Duty strangled his cellmate in 2001while in was in prison for armed robbery, first-degree rape and shooting with intent to kill.

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