JACKSON, MISS– The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals lifts the stay against execution by lethal injection for the state of Mississippi.
Lethal injection has been under fire lately, as the drugs and their makers have been brought into question.
Today, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals voted unanimously to lift that temporary ban.
Mississippi law states “the manner of inflicting punishment of death shall be by continuous intravenous administration of a lethal quantity of an ultra-short acting barbiturate or other similar drug in combination with a chemical paralytic agent until death is pronounced.”
In short, the injection is both paralyzing and puts the death row inmate to sleep until they pass away.
The compound of drugs used in this lethal injection is what has come into question. Inmates had sued the state saying the drugs in the lethal compound were inhumane. The stay was imposed in August.
Since then, Attorney General Jim Hood has proposed alternatives to the lethal injection, such as firing squad and use of gas chambers.
Governor Phil Bryant says in a statement “The Fifth Circuit’s ruling affirms my belief that the state is legally and properly administering the death penalty.”
