Two senior officials fired in their state of Tennessee United States of Americaafter a report that identified numerous shortcomings in the lethal injection system in the US state.
The Department of Corrections fired Attorney General Debra Inglis and Inspector General Kelly Young.
An independent report found that the substances used in Tennessee’s lethal injections were not properly tested for contaminants that could interfere with the execution process.
The lethal injection method has come under the microscope in recent months following a series of controversial executions in various US states.
A separate report from the Death Penalty Clearinghouse states that more than a third of US executions in 2022 were “failed or highly problematic”.
The nonprofit report, which did not take a stance on the death penalty, said that executions were “clearly problematic due to incompetence, non-compliance with protocol, or problems with the protocols themselves.”
Executions on ice
In Tennessee, officials are currently considering changes to the lethal injection protocol, and executions have been suspended. Republican Gov. Bill Lee suspended them last May after stopping the execution of prisoner Oscar Smith an hour before he was due to be executed.
The governor then pleaded some “carelessness” in the preparations for the lethal injection.
Gov. Lee said a few days ago that the state Supreme Court would likely wait for the state to finalize protocol changes before scheduling future executions.
Li requested an independent report, which was completed in December and found several serious errors showing that in seven executions since 2018, none of the lethal injections used were properly verified.
And in Arizona, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hobbs ordered a review of the death penalty protocols last Friday. Implementation procedures and staff training will be reviewed.
State Attorney General Chris Mays has suspended all executions pending review.
Arizona resumed executions last year after an eight-year hiatus. Executions were “frozen” after a failed lethal injection on convicted murderer Joseph Wood in 2014. His execution lasted two hours after officials administered 15 doses.
While acknowledging that recent executions have been heavily criticized, Hobbs said of the review decision, “We just want to make sure the practice is sound and that we don’t end up with botched executions like the ones we’ve seen recently. .”
A total of 27 US states still allow the death penalty. Three of them – California, Oregon and Pennsylvania – called for a moratorium on executions.
Source: BBC
Source: Kathimerini
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