Georgia Carries Out First Execution With Pentobarbital

The 24th Execution of 2011

Roy Blankenship was executed by the state of Georgia on June 23, 2011 for the 1978 murder of Sarah Mims Bowen, who died of heart failure after she was raped and beaten in her apartment, according to Reuters.

It was the state's first execution using a new sedative, pentobarbital, in place of sodium thiopental. He was pronounced dead at 8:37 p.m. local time, according to a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections. The day of the execution the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously rejected Blankenship's last-minute request for a stay, including his claim that using pentobarbital in the execution would cause undue pain and suffering, reported Reuters.

Blankenship did not request a last meal and was offered the prison's normal food but declined to eat. He did not make a final statement.

Georgia now has executed 50 men since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Blankenship was the 27th inmate put to death by lethal injection in Georgia, which has 100 men and one woman on death row.

To read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/24/us-execution-georgia-idUSTRE75N06P20110624