Q: Why was Kelly Gissendaner’s execution stayed?
A. A spokeswoman for the state Department of Correction said the deadly solution of pentobarbital, made by a compounding pharmacy, “appeared cloudy” and out of “an abundance of caution” the execution was called off. Gwendolyn Hogan said the drugs had been tested by an independent lab prior to the scheduled execution and found to be within accepted parameters. It was only later the drugs appeared cloudy.
Q: Where does the state get phenobarbital?
A: From an unknown compounding pharmacy. It is unknown because the Georgia General Assembly passed a law that took effect in 2013 that classifies as “confidential state secrets” any identifying information of those who manufacture, supply, compound or prescribe the drugs used for lethal injections.
Q: Why does that need to be a state secret?
A: Georgia, like many states with the death penalty, is finding it very difficult to buy execution drugs from mass manufacturers, who face pressure from death-penalty opponents and shareholders to not provide drugs for lethal injections. The Georgia Attorney General’s office has argued the secrecy is necessary because death-penalty opponents have been successful at exerting pressure on companies, and Georgia cannot carry out executions without the drugs.
Q: Has the secrecy law been challenged?
A: Yes. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled in 2014 in a 5-2 decision, saying the law plays a “positive role” in the capital punishment process. The dissenting justices said the law could lead to “macabre” executions like one that happened in Oklahoma, where an inmate who was supposed to be unconscious writhed and gasped as lethal drugs were administered.
Q: How long have states executed people using lethal injection?
A: Texas was the first state to use lethal injection to carry out an execution in 1982. Georgia adopted that method in 1999, a year before the state Supreme Court banned electrocution. All states and the federal government now use the method.
But, states have begun running into problems with botched lethal injections, which is creating controversy about the method. Oklahoma botched three in 2014.
Q: What is the U.S. Supreme Court case that may affect Georgia’s use of lethal injection as a method?
A: One is Glossip vs. Gross out of Oklahoma, scheduled to be argued April 29. Some cogent questions are, do lethal injection drugs used in Oklahoma’s method cause pain and suffering and thereby violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment; and does that apply to other states.
