The Supreme Court is stepping into the issue of lethal injection executions for the first time since 2008, agreeing Friday to take up an appeal filed by death row inmates in Oklahoma.
The justices will review whether the sedative midazolam can be used in executions amid concerns that it does not produce a deep, coma-like unconsciousness. As a result, prisoners may experience intense and needless pain when other drugs are injected to kill him. The order came eight days after the court refused to halt the execution of an Oklahoma man that employed the same combination of drugs.
Oklahoma uses midazolam as one of three drugs in lethal injection executions. The second drug serves to paralyze the inmate and the third one is used to stop his heart.
The case probably will be argued in April, with a decision expected by the end of June.
The appeal was brought to the court by four Oklahoma inmates due to be executed in the months leading up to March. The justices allowed Charles Warner to be put to death on January 15 and denied stays of execution for the other three.
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