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Drug shortage prompts CA to suspend executions after Sept. 30
Oklahoma and Kentucky have already postponed executions

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there's a shortage of sodium thiopental, an anesthetic used in lethal injections
  Drug shortage prompts California to suspend executions after Sept. 30

Oklahoma and Kentucky have already postponed executions

by Michael Winter

USA Today

September 27, 2010

California has become the latest state to announce it will temporarily halt executions because of a shortage of sodium thiopental, an anesthetic used in lethal injections.

Just last week a federal judge gave the state the go-ahead to resume lethal injections after five years because of problems with the execution process and the personnel involved. California is scheduled to execute Albert Greenwood Brown on Wednesday for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in 1980. Today, California Attorney General Jerry Brown's office told the Associated Press that executions would be suspended after Sept. 30 until a supply of the drug is available.
 

Oklahoma and Kentucky have already postponed executions because of the shortage of the barbiturate.

The sole U.S. manufacturer of sodium thiopental, Hospira Inc. of Lake Forest, Ill., has blamed the shortage on "raw-material supplier issues" since spring. It has promised availability early next year.

At least one death penalty expert expressed skepticism about Hospira's explanation, the AP writes separately , noting that the company has objected to its drugs being used for executions. Hospira also makes the two other chemicals used in lethal injections.

Nine states, among them Arizona, Texas, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee, have a total of 17 executions scheduled between now and the end of January, AP says.

Why not use another drug? AP explains:

Switching to another anesthetic would be difficult for some states. Some, like California, Missouri and Kentucky, adopted their execution procedures after lengthy court proceedings, and changing drugs could take time and invite lawsuits.

Obtaining sodium thiopental from hospitals does not appear to be an option, either. Sodium thiopental has been largely supplanted by other anesthetics in the U.S., and hospitals do not stock much of it.

Also, drug purchasing and use rules — and ethical guidelines that bar the medical profession from getting involved in executions — could prevent hospitals from supplying prisons with the drug, according to industry experts.

Update at 7:20 p.m. ET: A California prisons spokesman says Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has delayed Albert Brown's execution by 45 hours to give him time to consider clemency and to allow appeals courts to review the death sentence. Brown had been scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Execution is now set for 9 p.m. Thursday.

Earlier this afternoon a Marin County judge refused to halt Brown's execution. He argued that the state's new death penalty rules were adopted improperly and that he might suffer pain.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Here's another related story from the Associated Press:

California governor delays execution by 45 hours

by Paul Elias

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has delayed by two days an execution that had been scheduled for Wednesday.

Corrections Department spokeswoman Terry Thornton says the delay means Albert Greenwood Brown is now scheduled to die by lethal injection at 9 p.m. Thursday. He initially was scheduled for execution at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Thornton says the governor told corrections officials the delay would allow appeals courts time to weigh in on Brown's case and give him time to consider a clemency request.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

California's death penalty is facing another significant hiatus.

State officials said Monday they would run out of one of the three drugs used in California's lethal injection process by the end of the month and were unsure when they would receive a new supply.

The shortage, however, was not expected to stop the execution of Albert Greenwood Brown, who is scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday in the state's first execution in nearly five years.

Marin County Superior Court Judge Verna Adams refused Monday to block Brown's execution after he argued in a lawsuit that California's new death penalty regulations were improperly adopted.

"Mr. Brown cannot prove that he will suffer pain if he is executed under the current regulations," Adams said.

A federal judge ruled similarly on Friday after Brown contended California's lethal injection process put him at risk of suffering cruel and unusual punishment.

Brown's attorneys have now turned to state and federal appeals courts in their bid to stop the execution of Brown, who was convicted of abducting, raping and killing a 15-year-old girl on her way home from school in 1980.

Meanwhile, the attorney general's office said no more executions should be scheduled until the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation can obtain more sodium thiopental.

In a court filing Saturday, lawyers in the office said the state had 7.5 grams of sodium thiopental on hand, but the expiration date for the batch is Oct. 1.

Hospira, the manufacturer of the drug, blamed the shortage on raw material supply issues that have lingered since spring. The company was promising availability in early 2011, although it broke previous assurances of deliveries this year.

Several other states have delayed executions because of the production problems.

The company also told prison officials across the country, "we do not support the use of any of our products in capital punishment procedures."

Lawyers in the California attorney general's office said in August that execution dates would be aggressively pursued for four other inmates who, like Brown, had completed the federal and state appeals process. But that was before the drug shortage was disclosed in the court filing.

Already, prosecutors have canceled a planned Sept. 14 hearing to set an execution date for Michael Morales, who came within two hours of execution in February 2006 before prison officials canceled his lethal injection to comply with a judge's order to overhaul the state's capital punishment system.

Three other death row inmates - Kevin Cooper, David Raley and Mitchell Sims - may have also benefited from the shortage because they were on the short list of execution candidates.

Sodium thiopental would be the first drug administered to Brown, who is to receive two shots, each containing 1.5 grams of the sedative. If the warden determines Brown is still awake, he will receive two more shots, according to the state's regulations. Once he's unconsciousness, Brown is to be injected with pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride, which should prove fatal.

Brown's attorneys argue that the process puts him at risk of suffering extreme pain. They also argue the regulations were drafted improperly and ignored the many public comments warning about the perils of the three-drug cocktail.

California deputy attorney general Jay Goldman told Judge Adams the regulations were adopted legally after a lengthy process that included public input.

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