Mississippi inmates challenge state’s lethal injection procedures

Published 10:18 am Saturday, July 9, 2016

JACKSON (AP) — Two Mississippi death row inmates are filing fresh challenges to the state’s lethal injection procedures with the Mississippi Supreme Court.

The move comes after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told them a state court should determine whether Mississippi was breaking state law by using a new drug.

Richard Jordan and Gerald Loden filed their appeals Wednesday, saying the court should rule illegal Mississippi’s plan to use midazolam as a sedative because it’s not the kind of drug called for by state law.

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Mississippi law requires a three-drug process, with an “ultra-short-acting barbiturate” followed by a paralyzing agent and a drug that stops an inmate’s heart. But Mississippi and other states have increasing struggled to obtain such drugs since 2010, as manufacturers refuse to sell them for executions.