A Georgia death-row inmate has filed a lawsuit that contends any changes being made to Georgia's lethal-injection procedure should be opened to public scrutiny.
The suit, filed last week by Cobb County convicted killer Andrew DeYoung, contends the Department of Corrections must follow the Administrative Procedure Act when it changes the way it executes condemned inmates. A Corrections spokeswoman said Monday the agency declines comment.
Corrections general counsel Rob Jones recently said the agency may soon switch to the barbituate pentobarbital, which has been used in Ohio and Oklahoma, as a replacement for sodium thiopental, which is no longer made in the United States.
The Drug Enforcement Administration recently confiscated Georgia's supply of sodium thiopental after DeYoung's lawyers questioned whether the state illegally obtained the drug from a pharmaceutical company in London. The seizure put executions on hold.
DeYoung sits on death row for killing his parents and 14-year-old sister in 1993. His lawsuit says any proposed change in the lethal-injection process should be made available for public inspection and comment, and interested parties should be able to request a hearing.
Despite changing the way Georgia executes people, the agency "evidently has no intention of following the procedures that are required even when agencies promulgate rules governing, for instance, dog catchers, cosmetologists and pest exterminators," the suit said. "Rather, [Corrections] has ignored the requirements of the [Administrative Procedure Act] in its efforts to rapidly implement a new lethal-injection procedure, even during a federal investigation."
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