Death Penalty
Okla. Inmate Executed with Sedative Used in Animal Euthanasia
An Oklahoma inmate executed Thursday is believed to be the first person put to death with a sedative used to euthanize animals.
Officials substituted pentobarbital in the execution of John David Duty because of a nationwide shortage of the drug usually used, sodium thiopental, according to the Associated Press and the Tulsa World. Duty, 58, was executed for strangling a cellmate.
On Tuesday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Denver cleared the way for the execution when it ruled (PDF) that use of pentobarbital is not cruel and unusual punishment.
