Judge delays Virginia execution amid questions about execution drug
A federal judge in Virginia on Wednesday stayed the execution of Alfredo Prieto to allow time to consider his claim that one of the lethal injection drugs could cause “gratuitous and unnecessary pain.”
U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga of Alexandria temporarily enjoined Prieto’s execution, scheduled for today, in this order (PDF). The Washington Post and the Richmond Times-Dispatch have stories.
Prieto’s lawyers want more information on pentobarbital, the first drug in the three-drug execution cocktail. Texas prison officials supplied the drug after Virginia’s supply of midazolam, intended to be used instead of pentobarbital, had passed its expiration date. Prieto’s complaint is here (PDF) and a supplemental filing is here (PDF).
One inmate executed using pentobarbital said he could feel his body burning, which would be consistent with the drug being exposed to contaminants, according to Prieto’s lawyers. A second also reported burning, and a third “gasped heavily and snored,” according to the complaint.
Prieto was convicted of three murders, and is linked by DNA or ballistics to six other deaths.
