Post by thinkinkmesa on Jul 4, 2011 23:42:09 GMT -5
Upcoming execution may be first in Va. to use pentobarbital
An upcoming execution may be the first carried out in Virginia with a powerful sedative that has been successfully, if controversially, used in lethal injections in other states.
Jerry Terrell Jackson, 30, is set to die Aug. 18 for the capital murder of Ruth Phillips, 88, in Williamsburg. Phillips' body was discovered by her son Aug. 26, 2001. She had been raped and smothered with a pillow.
For years, Virginia and other states that conduct lethal injections used sodium thiopental as the first of three drugs administered in the procedure. But a national shortage of the drug has forced a switch to pentobarbital by many states.
In lethal injections, sodium thiopental or pentobarbital are used first to render the inmate unconscious, pancuronium bromide is then administered to stop muscle movement and finally potassium chloride stops the heart.
Since late last year, there have been at least 17 executions in other states using pentobarbital. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, most states use it to replace the first drug while Ohio has used it as the only drug.
Critics say pentobarbital can lead to suffering, but its use, like that of sodium thiopental, has thus far withstood challenges in U.S. courts. Richard Dieter, director of the center, said half a dozen states have temporarily halted executions over the issue.
Meanwhile, as supplies of sodium thiopental dry up, Lundbeck, the Danish — and only — manufacturer of pentobarbital, announced last week that it is doing everything it can to stop its use in executions because it cannot assure its safety and effectiveness.
Lundbeck is barring its sale to prisons in death-penalty states, and before receiving pentobarbital, purchasers must sign a form stating that the purchase is for its own use and that it will not redistribute the drug without the authorization of Lundbeck.
By signing the form, the purchaser agrees that the product will not be made available for executions.
Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, said last week that if Jackson is executed by injection, it will be the first Virginia execution where the use of pentobarbital is an option.
He said the department did not have any sodium thiopental but is believed to have pentobarbital because officials are prepared to conduct the execution by injection. One or the other of the drugs will be used depending on availability, said Traylor.
(Jackson could ask to die in the electric chair. Virginia inmates must decide at least 15 days before execution if they wish to die by injection or electrocution. If they refuse to choose, injection is the default method.)
If he dies by injection, Traylor said the department has trained with the use of pentobarbital and is prepared to carry out an execution using it or sodium thiopental.
Gretchen M. Brophy, a professor of pharmacotherapy at VCU's Medical College of Virginia, said pentobarbital is used, among other things, to induce coma in patients with traumatic brain injury.
She said the doses that are being used for lethal injection are several times greater than the doses used to induce coma.
Brophy said both pentobarbital and sodium thiopental are anesthetic agents that induce sedation and decrease brain excitability and that they should act similarly when given in comparative doses, she said.
According to Reprieve, a prisoner human-rights group in Britain, pentobarbital may cause unnecessary suffering during executions. The group says the drug was not designed to induce anesthesia and has not been clinically tested for the purpose.
Reprieve cites two executions last month, in Georgia and Alabama, using pentobarbital in which witnesses reported that the condemned men jerked their heads and gave other indications that they were in discomfort or had not been properly anesthetized.
Dr. David B. Waisel, an associate professor of anesthesiology at the Harvard Medical School, said in an affidavit last week that based on a witness description on the June 23 execution in Georgia of Roy Blankenship, "I can say with certainty that Mr. Blankenship was inadequately anesthetized and . . . that he suffered greatly."
"Mr. Blankenship should not have been conscious or exhibiting these movements, nor should his eyes have been open, after the injection of pentobarbital," Waisel said in the affidavit.
Brophy, who read Waisel's affidavit, agrees that it appears Blankenship may not have been adequately sedated or anesthetized before the administration of the other drugs.
Michele Brace, one of Jackson's lawyers, said they are leaving open the possibility of a court challenge to the drug. In any case, she said they anticipate filing an appeal soon with the U.S. Supreme Court and a clemency petition with Gov. Bob McDonnell.
www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/jul/05/tdmain01-upcoming-execution-may-be-first-in-va-to--ar-1151861/
An upcoming execution may be the first carried out in Virginia with a powerful sedative that has been successfully, if controversially, used in lethal injections in other states.
Jerry Terrell Jackson, 30, is set to die Aug. 18 for the capital murder of Ruth Phillips, 88, in Williamsburg. Phillips' body was discovered by her son Aug. 26, 2001. She had been raped and smothered with a pillow.
For years, Virginia and other states that conduct lethal injections used sodium thiopental as the first of three drugs administered in the procedure. But a national shortage of the drug has forced a switch to pentobarbital by many states.
In lethal injections, sodium thiopental or pentobarbital are used first to render the inmate unconscious, pancuronium bromide is then administered to stop muscle movement and finally potassium chloride stops the heart.
Since late last year, there have been at least 17 executions in other states using pentobarbital. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, most states use it to replace the first drug while Ohio has used it as the only drug.
Critics say pentobarbital can lead to suffering, but its use, like that of sodium thiopental, has thus far withstood challenges in U.S. courts. Richard Dieter, director of the center, said half a dozen states have temporarily halted executions over the issue.
Meanwhile, as supplies of sodium thiopental dry up, Lundbeck, the Danish — and only — manufacturer of pentobarbital, announced last week that it is doing everything it can to stop its use in executions because it cannot assure its safety and effectiveness.
Lundbeck is barring its sale to prisons in death-penalty states, and before receiving pentobarbital, purchasers must sign a form stating that the purchase is for its own use and that it will not redistribute the drug without the authorization of Lundbeck.
By signing the form, the purchaser agrees that the product will not be made available for executions.
Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, said last week that if Jackson is executed by injection, it will be the first Virginia execution where the use of pentobarbital is an option.
He said the department did not have any sodium thiopental but is believed to have pentobarbital because officials are prepared to conduct the execution by injection. One or the other of the drugs will be used depending on availability, said Traylor.
(Jackson could ask to die in the electric chair. Virginia inmates must decide at least 15 days before execution if they wish to die by injection or electrocution. If they refuse to choose, injection is the default method.)
If he dies by injection, Traylor said the department has trained with the use of pentobarbital and is prepared to carry out an execution using it or sodium thiopental.
Gretchen M. Brophy, a professor of pharmacotherapy at VCU's Medical College of Virginia, said pentobarbital is used, among other things, to induce coma in patients with traumatic brain injury.
She said the doses that are being used for lethal injection are several times greater than the doses used to induce coma.
Brophy said both pentobarbital and sodium thiopental are anesthetic agents that induce sedation and decrease brain excitability and that they should act similarly when given in comparative doses, she said.
According to Reprieve, a prisoner human-rights group in Britain, pentobarbital may cause unnecessary suffering during executions. The group says the drug was not designed to induce anesthesia and has not been clinically tested for the purpose.
Reprieve cites two executions last month, in Georgia and Alabama, using pentobarbital in which witnesses reported that the condemned men jerked their heads and gave other indications that they were in discomfort or had not been properly anesthetized.
Dr. David B. Waisel, an associate professor of anesthesiology at the Harvard Medical School, said in an affidavit last week that based on a witness description on the June 23 execution in Georgia of Roy Blankenship, "I can say with certainty that Mr. Blankenship was inadequately anesthetized and . . . that he suffered greatly."
"Mr. Blankenship should not have been conscious or exhibiting these movements, nor should his eyes have been open, after the injection of pentobarbital," Waisel said in the affidavit.
Brophy, who read Waisel's affidavit, agrees that it appears Blankenship may not have been adequately sedated or anesthetized before the administration of the other drugs.
Michele Brace, one of Jackson's lawyers, said they are leaving open the possibility of a court challenge to the drug. In any case, she said they anticipate filing an appeal soon with the U.S. Supreme Court and a clemency petition with Gov. Bob McDonnell.
www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/jul/05/tdmain01-upcoming-execution-may-be-first-in-va-to--ar-1151861/