JACKSON, Miss.–There will be no executions in Mississippi for now after federal Judge Henry Wingate apparently issued a verbal restraining order Tuesday following a lawsuit by two state inmates.
The drugs pentobarbital and midazolam are currently the order of the day for the anesthetic in lethal injections in the state, but may be considered cruel and unusual after a botched execution in Oklahoma.
But, Attorney General Jim Hood disagrees.
“Just months ago the United States Supreme Court approved Oklahoma’s method of lethal injection. Mississippi’s method follows that of Oklahoma. We feel strongly that the district court misapplied the law,” said Hood in a statement.
Hood was seeking an Aug. 27, execution for inmate Richard Jordan, who has exhausted all of his appeals after nearly 40 years on death row for kidnapping and killing Edwina Marter in Harrison County.
The last person executed in Mississippi was Gary Simmons in 2012.
