Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal judge says the state of Alabama may not use a large dose of a sedative to execute five death row inmates.
U.S. District Judge William Keith Watkins rejected the suggestion Thursday. His decision was part of an order denying the state’s request to dismiss lawsuits from five inmates who have challenged Alabama’s three-drug lethal injection procedure. The inmates were asked to present alternate means of execution, and in amended complaints, they suggested using single doses of the sedative midazolam.
The Alabama Attorney General’s office filed a motion saying it would accept that alternative, but Watkins denied it.
The judge also ordered the inmates’ lawsuits to be combined. A status conference for the combined case is scheduled for Nov. 4.