In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling Monday that Oklahoma could continue to use a controversial sedative in its executions, the attorneys general of two other states that use the drug said the ruling should allow them to resume executions.
Florida’s attorney general asked the state Supreme Court there to lift a stay of execution that was put into place earlier this year. Executions in Florida are carried out using the same combination of drugs that Oklahoma uses, which is why Jorge Labarga, chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, ordered a stay until the justices weighed in on this protocol.
The Oklahoma case centered on midazolam, a sedative that was used in problematic executions in that state, Arizona and Ohio last year. In the bungled Oklahoma execution, an inmate kicked and grimaced before dying 43 minutes after the execution began, drawing international scrutiny; the inmates in Arizona and Ohio also remained alive, gasping and snorting, for unusually long periods of time.
Florida, which has executed the fourth-most inmates of any state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, has used this particular drug since 2013, carrying out repeated executions without witnesses reporting similar problems. But the Florida Supreme Court said in February it was staying an execution until after the U.S. Supreme Court concluded its review.
Pam Bondi, the Florida attorney general, asked her state’s Supreme Court to vacate the stay now that the execution protocol has been upheld.
Meanwhile, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange released a statement praising the Supreme Court for its decision. A federal judge in Alabama said the state should hold off on any executions until after the Supreme Court ruling came down, again because of a similar execution protocol.
“Opponents of lethal injections have repeatedly used court challenges of certain lethal injection drugs as ways to delay or avoid lawful executions,” Strange said. “The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed our belief that executions using these lethal injection drugs are not cruel and unusual punishment, and therefore are not prohibited under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”
Strange’s office said that the decision is expected to clear the way for Alabama to resume executions as well.
Also on Monday, authorities in Oklahoma said they were planning to resume executions now that the protocol was upheld.
