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We have more information today about why Georgia is going to a one drug, intentional overdose protocol, for execution of prisoners. It seems like the second drug of the procedure, pancuronium bromide, is in short supply. Georgia’s stash expired July 1.
The traditional method for poisoning prisoners involved three drugs. Sodium thiopental (later pentobarbital) was used as a sedative. Pancuronium bromide, or Pavulon, was used to paralyze the muscles. Potassium chloride tells the heart to stop beating, and is the actual cause of death.
“Richard Dieter of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center said a paralyzing drug like pancuronium bromide is used because it “freezes the muscles. But it’s more for the sake of those viewing executions, that it not appear to be disruptive, violent or painful in any way.”
When the Department of Corrections learned about the Pavulon problem, they decided to go to an overdose of pentobarbital. The lawyers got busy, and the execution of Warren Hill was delayed, until the courts could take a look at things.
Amnesty International has a fine article on the subject. Here are a few quotes.
Pancuronium bromide paralyzes the skeletal muscles but does not affect the brain or nerves. A person injected with it remains conscious but cannot move or speak. In Tennessee and about 30 other states, the chemical is used in combination with two others. The other chemicals can either ease or exacerbate the suffering the pancuronium bromide causes, depending on the dosages and the expertise of the prison personnel who administer them.
A judge here recently found that pancuronium bromide, marketed under the trade name Pavulon, has “no legitimate purpose.” “The subject gives all the appearances of a serene expiration when actually the subject is feeling and perceiving the excruciatingly painful ordeal of death by lethal injection,” the judge, Ellen Hobbs Lyle, wrote, describing the worst-case scenario. “The Pavulon gives a false impression of serenity to viewers, making punishment by death more palatable and acceptable.”
A simpler and more humane alternative to the three-chemical combination, many experts agree, is a method used in animal euthanasia: a single lethal dose of a barbiturate called sodium pentobarbital.
Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland, who teaches medicine at Yale and wrote “How We Die” (Knopf, 1994) said he was baffled to hear that pancuronium bromide was used in executions. “It strikes me that it makes no sense to use a muscle relaxant in executing people,” he said. “Complete muscle paralysis does not mean loss of pain sensation.” Dr. Nuland, who described himself as a cautious supporter of the death penalty, said a humane death could be achieved in other ways, including by using the other two chemicals in the standard method, without the pancuronium bromide. …
The American Veterinary Medical Association condemns pancuronium bromide when it is the sole chemical used or when it is used in combination with the usual animal euthanasia drug, sodium pentobarbital. That is because, an association report in 2000 said, “the animal may perceive pain and distress after it is immobilized.” … In 2001, it became a crime for veterinarians in Tennessee to use one of the chemicals in that standard method to euthanize pets.
A Tennessee challenge to the use of Pavulon was brought by lawyers for Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman. “The state’s legal papers also argued that the ban on pancuronium bromide in pet euthanasia does not apply to Mr. Abdur’Rahman because he is not a “nonlivestock animal,” which the law says includes pets, captured wildlife, exotic and domesticated animals, rabbits, chicks, ducks and potbellied pigs.”
The reason for pancuronium bromide in the standard lethal injection method is not well understood. Judge Lyle found that Tennessee’s method “was developed simply by copying the same method used in some 30 other states.” … The earliest protocol, in Oklahoma, was based on advice solicited by a state senator from a professor in the state’s medical school. The professor, Stanley Deutsch, recommended an ultra-short-acting barbituate and a neuromuscular blocking drug like pancuronium bromide. “I can assure you that this is a rapid, pleasant way of producing unconsciousness,” Dr. Deutsch wrote in 1977. In a recent interview, Dr. Deutsch stood by his initial finding, saying his method does not cause suffering. “They use such a massive amount of the penthothal that I don’t think there is any chance that people will awaken,” he said. Other states, typically acting through their corrections departments and individual prison wardens, apparently copied Dr. Deutsch’s advice without subjecting it to independent medical scrutiny.
Pavulon is “a neuromuscular blocking agent that goes by the technical name pancuronium bromide (Pavulon ), which is curare-derived. (Curare was used on the tips of blowdarts to paralyze victims in the jungles of South America.) ”
Finding the manufacturer , and supplier, used by the State of Georgia is a challenge. It is not known why there is a shortage of this drug.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.

The execution of Warren Hill has been postponed. The fishwrapper reports “Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens on Tuesday said the state will begin using only one lethal injection drug — the sedative pentobarbital — instead of three. … “The department has been using pentobarbital in its execution process and based upon the experience of other states and compentent medical testimony the drug has proven to be effective,” said a statement released by the Department of Corrections. “The department is committed to carrying out the order of the court in the most responsible and professional manner possible.”
On March 11, 2011, Ohio tried something new. ” Ohio executed an inmate Thursday with a single drug previously used to euthanize animals, the first execution of its kind in the United States and a potentially pivotal development in the nation’s emotional battle over capital punishment. Johnnie Baston, 37, was pronounced dead at 10:30 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville after receiving an infusion of the powerful barbituate pentobarbital, officials said. Baston was sentenced to death for the 1994 killing of Chong Mah, 53, a Toledo store owner. ”
The Associated Press wrote a report, Ga. Switching to Single-Drug Method for Executions. It is available all over the internet. “Georgia began using pentobarbital as part of its three-drug combination last year after another drug, sodium thiopental, became unavailable when its European supplier bowed to pressure from death penalty opponents and stopped making it. But pentobarbital is now in short supply after its manufacturer said it would try to prevent its use in executions.
Three other states — Arizona, Idaho and Ohio — have carried out single-drug executions using pentobarbital, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Ohio was the first to use just pentobarbital, during a March 2011 execution. Washington state has used the method with sodium thiopental, the center said. A total of 11 executions have been carried out using pentobarbital alone, said center executive director Richard Dieter. … Missouri has said it plans to use propofol, the anesthetic blamed for Michael Jackson’s death, for single-drug executions.
Pentobarbital is most commonly used to euthanize animals and treat seizures. It wasn’t created to kill people and still is relatively untested for use on humans, said Fordham University law professor Deborah Denno. “The whole reason lethal injection was created was to have a humane method of executing people. Drug selection in the late 1970s had that goal in mind. Now, drugs are chosen out of convenience because they’re the only thing available, not because they’re the humane choice.”
Dr. Howard Nearman, chairman the anesthesiology department at Case Western Reserve University’s medical school, said the change to a one-drug procedure makes sense. The drug takes away respiratory drive and creates blood pressure changes that cause the heart to give out, he said. “They’re going to rely on the drug that puts you to sleep to actually make life systems stop working,” he said.”
The execution procedure, euphemistically known as lethal injection, began using a three drug cocktail. This is the proctol approved by the US Supreme Court. The procedure involved “a three-drug cocktail that included sodium thiopental to kill pain, pancurium bromide to paralyze the inmate and potassium chloride to stop the heart.” It is not known if there is a shortage of pancurium bromide or potassium chloride.
The use of sodium thiopental was curtailed after the manufacturer refused to allow it’s use in executions. The maker of pentobarbital has similar concerns.
But pentobarbital could eventually become scarce. Most state justice departments say that for security reasons they cannot specify how much of the drug they have stored, but pentobarbital’s manufacturers have in recent months acted on a number of fronts to prevent its use for executions.
Lundbeck Inc., a Danish pharmaceutical company that manufactured the drug until late last year, sent letters last August to governors and correctional departments in 16 states — Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia — saying it did not want its drug used for executions.
When that request was ignored, the company switched from using several distributors last June to using a drop ship program, selling its product directly to health care facilities through a single distributor, Cardinal Health. In addition, every medical facility that received the drugs had to sign a document saying the product would not be used for executions or resold for that purpose. “We stated very clearly that we’re in the business of improving peoples lives and using it for capital punishment is against what we do,” Matt Flesch, spokesman for Lundbeck, told iWatch News.
Finally last December Lundbeck sold its pentobarbital rights to Illinois-based Akorn Inc., which signed an agreement promising it would not sell the drug for the purpose of executions.
Lets review this story. The State of Georgia has delayed an execution. It announced a change in procedure the day before an execution was scheduled to take place. They are changing from a protocol approved by the Supreme Court. They are going to use a deliberate overdose of pentobarbital to kill a prisoner. This act raises questions about the ability of the State of Georgia to administer the death penalty in the proper manner.
The death penalty is strong medicine. Cases are put through a rigorous appeal process. In the case of Warren Hill, this process has lasted 22 years. The question many have about the death penalty is the capability of state government to wisely use this strong medicine. The actions of the State of Georgia yesterday would indicate that the state is not smart enough to use the death penalty.
The motto of the State of Georgia is Wisdom, Justice, Moderation. Taking twenty two years to execute a man is not just. Using a deliberate drug overdose to carry out this execution is neither wise nor moderate.
Pictures today are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”

On July 19, at the facility in Jackson GA, the state is scheduled to poison Warren Lee Hill Jr. “The State Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday denied clemency to a man whose lawyer says is mentally disabled and should not be executed. Warren Lee Hill is set to be put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday at the state prison in Jackson.”
Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens issued a press advisory, Execution Date Set for Warren Lee Hill, Convicted of Ruthless Murder of Fellow Prison Inmate. Here is what it says about the crimes that led to this punishment.
“In August of 1990, Hill and the victim, Joseph Handspike, were both incarcerated for murder at the Lee Correctional Institution (hereinafter Lee C.I.). Hill was serving a life sentence for murdering his 18-year-old girlfriend, Myra Wright, in 1986 by shooting her eleven times.
During Hill’s trial for the Handspike’s murder, a Lee C.I. correctional officer testified that at 5:10 a.m., he heard a loud noise emanating from the inmates’ sleeping quarters in Wing C. Upon entering the wing to investigate, the officer witnessed Hill bludgeoning the victim, who was lying in his bed. The officer quickly returned to his station, called for backup, and opened the security gate to allow other officers to enter and assist. He then returned to the scene and saw that Hill had ceased beating the victim. The officer demanded that Hill surrender his weapon, and Hill complied handing over the board he had used in the beating.
A correctional officer and the other witness testified that the victim was attacked while he was sleeping, and that he was unable to defend himself. Witnesses testified the board used to murder the victim was a “2 x 6 that had been trimmed down to a leg,” and that the board had been a support for a sink in the bathroom of Wing C at the institution. In addition, there was testimony that several nails protruded from one end of the board.
In regards to the victim’s injuries, a correctional officer testified that the victim was badly beaten in the upper body and face. The victim was bleeding profusely from his wounds, several teeth were knocked out and his left eye was detached from the socket. The victim, who was still conscious, attempted to raise himself and speak to the correctional officer; however, he was unable to speak and had blood pouring from his mouth.
Following the attack, the victim was taken to the hospital where an emergency room doctor attempted to save his life for approximately one hour and fifteen minutes. The victim was subsequently pronounced dead from blunt head trauma.”
There is little doubt that Mr. Hill committed the crimes. The issue that many have with the execution is the indications that Mr. Hill is mentally retarded. It seems to break down to how you measure things. From the press advisory :
During the sentencing phase of Hill’s trial, the defense called several mitigation witnesses. Specifically, defense counsel presented testimony from Hill’s family and from a clinical psychologist, Dr. William Dickinson. At trial, Dr. Dickinson testified that Hill was of below normal intelligence and had evidence of organic brain damage. Dr. Dickinson admitted, however, that Hill knew the difference between right and wrong, was capable to stand trial for both murders that he committed, that he has a history of explosive episodes, that Hill told him he had been in fights in prison and that he had the potential to be violent in the future.
Evidence also established that family members prior to trial described Hill as “the leader of the family,” noting that he basically “took over the family” and the care of the family from his father at an early age. Hill’s siblings, who were by then adults, related that he “had been their father figure” and depended on him to provide them with food, clothing, and “paternal guidance.” Both his siblings and his mother looked to Hill as the “man of the house.” A high school friend, who at the time of trial was working as an electrical engineer for Scientific Atlanta designing telecommunication systems, described Hill as “bright,” “sharp,” “mature” and “level-headed.” Evidence also showed that, following the completion of high school, Hill entered the Navy where he rose to the rank of Seaman Second Class.
While incarcerated for the murder of his girlfriend, Petitioner was evaluated for prison and it was determined that he was of average intelligence or better, and that, “inmate Hill’s intelligence level (could) support skilled and semi-skilled training and an average degree of work status and responsibility.” Hill was then transferred to Lee C. I. in August of 1989.
On November 22, 2011, The US Court of Appeals decided not to help Mr. Hill. The opinion notes that at the trial, and the first appeal, that no assertion of mental retardation was made. On page 14 of the opinion, footnote seven discusses several tests given to Mr. Hill. These tests estimate his I.Q. as being between 69 and 77.
Huffington Post contributes this: “A U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2002 forbids imposing capital punishment on the “mentally retarded.” The ruling in Atkins v. Virginia left it up to states to define that group of people. Georgia was the first state to outlaw the death penalty for people with mental retardation in 1988, but the state’s legal code says a defendant must prove retardation beyond a reasonable doubt. No other state sets such a heavy burden of proof, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. A state judge held that Hill’s lawyers had proved his mental retardation by a preponderance of the evidence, which is a lower threshold. The Georgia Supreme Court overturned that finding in 2003, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled against Hill in November 2011. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to take his case.”
Peach Pundit posted an editorial from the “Courier Herald”, which says: “Nephew and family spokesperson Richard Handspike has written a detailed affidavit on behalf of his family noting that at no time was his family asked for victim impact statements or even informed of Hill’s trial proceedings. He notes that the family does “not want Mr. Hill to be executed, and we believe a sentence of life without the possibility of parole is an appropriate and just resolution for this case and for us as the family of Joseph Handspike.” Richard Handspike included details that he was not a distant relative, and was in fact close to the victim. He also was the family member that was called to the prison to identify his Uncle’s body. He is not a contrived prop being trotted out by a desperate defense team.”
UPDATE The execution was delayed until Monday, July 23. The State of Georgia will use an overdose of Pentobarbital to kill Mr. Hill. UPDATE TWO The State Supreme Court issued a stay of execution  Monday. This stay concerns the change from a three drug protocol, to a one drug deliberate overdose. UPDATE THREE The Georgia Supreme Court has given a green light for the execution of Mr. Hill. UPDATE FOUR The execution is now scheduled for July 15, 2013. Vintage pictures are from The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library. The image of GDC ID: 0000422090 is from The Georgia Department of Corrections. UPDATE FIVE Warren Hill died Tuesday January 27, 2015, at 7:55 pm.

The state of Georgia is planning to poison Daniel Greene at 7 p.m. on April 19. The procedure will be performed at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, GA. Mr. Greene was convicted of the 1991 murder of Bernard Walker, during the robbery of a Suwanee Thrifty store in Reynolds, GA. Daniel Greene, GDC ID:0000717996, is 6’5″ tall, weighs 300 pounds, and is a former high school athlete.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the death sentence on June 28, 2011. On March 19, 2012, The US Supreme Court denied a certiorari petition. The following account of Mr. Greene’s bad day comes from the 11th Circuit Court opinion .
On September 27, 1991, Daniel Greene committed a spree of murder and mayhem that covered three counties of rural Georgia. Greene first made several visits to the Suwanee Swifty, a convenience store located in Taylor County, Georgia. On his last visit, Greene pulled a knife on the store clerk, Virginia Wise, grabbed her, and forced her to give him $142.55 from the cash register. Greene took Wise to a back room in the convenience store where he stabbed her through her lung and liver and cut across three of her fingers.
A customer, Bernard Walker, then entered the store and caused the automatic doorbell to ring. Greene left Wise in the back of the store, approached Walker near the front counter, and stabbed Walker in the heart. Greene dropped the knife, left the store, and drove away. Wise survived, but Walker died in the parking lot.
Greene drove to the home of an elderly couple, Willie and Donice Montgomery, in rural Macon County, Georgia. Greene knew the couple and had previously worked for them as a farm laborer. Greene burst into their home with another knife in hand and demanded their car keys. Willie gave car keys to Greene, and Greene stabbed both Willie and Donice multiple times each in the head. Willie and Donice survived. Greene then drove to another convenience store, located in Houston County, Georgia. Greene pulled a knife on the store attendant and forced her to hand him money from the cash register. Greene also attempted to stab the attendant in the chest, but she bent down, and Greene stabbed her in the back of her shoulder. Greene drove away in the Montgomerys’ car.
Authorities later arrested Greene at the home of an acquaintance. Greene confessed to the crimes in a videotaped interview and stated that he had committed the crimes to obtain money for crack cocaine, but Greene later testified that he had no recollection of committing the crimes or of giving a confession. Greene testified that an acquaintance gave him a cigarette earlier that day that may have been laced with a mind-altering drug. Greene testified that he could remember only that he experienced a severe headache in the convenience store where Wise worked.
Lawyers for Mr. Greene have raised two issues. Black people were excluded from the jury at his initial trial. The prosecutor made some inappropriate comments during this trial. The court of appeals was not impressed with either argument.
The prosecutors exercised peremptory challenges against ten members of the jury venire, six of whom were black. In response to Greene’s objections about the peremptory challenges against the six black members of the jury venire, the prosecutors offered race-neutral reasons for each contested challenge. According to the prosecutors, Reginald Lemmons “was very hesitate [sic] on his answers to the death penalty questions,” expressed a view that “cocaine makes you do stuff you wouldn’t otherwise do,” had sympathy for a cousin with a cocaine problem, and “there was significant body language, contact, smiling, and nodding and so forth, and how you doing between [Greene] and [Lemmons].”Darius Duffie failed to disclose on his juror questionnaire that he had been convicted of a criminal offense. Irene Walton failed to follow the instructions of the trial court to return to court and thought she had to come to court only if she felt up to it, and the prosecutors suggested that Walton’s failure to follow instructions might relate to kidney problems that she had discussed. Angela Pope was a single mother, was hesitant about the death penalty, and stated that she had a family member accused of a crime. Stanley Milligan expressed conscientious opposition to the death penalty and stated that he was from a tough neighborhood. Kimberly Sullivan, a single mother of two children, was concerned about child care and expressed opposition to capital punishment, and the prosecutors had already attempted to challenge her for cause based on her opposition to capital punishment.
The trial court considered Greene’s objections and the prosecutors’ proffered reasons for challenging each of these members of the jury venire and determined that the prosecutors had provided reasons for each challenge that were racially neutral. …
The prosecutor made other comments during the sentencing phase of the trial that are also pertinent to Greene’s argument about prosecutorial misconduct. The prosecutor asked Greene’s sister, a witness for the defense, “[i]f [Greene] for some way got out and did the same thing . . . you’d still be arguing for his life, wouldn’t you?” Greene objected and moved for a mistrial. The trial court denied the motion for a mistrial and instructed the jury to disregard the question. The prosecutor also made Biblical references during the sentencing phase of Greene’s trial and commented that Greene might be able to obtain a weapon while in prison, stating, “[t]here’s dope in those penitentiaries no matter how hard we try to keep it out and there’s knives. They call them shanks. Now, do you want to put him in a penal environment where he can get a hold of those items?” Greene did not object to the Biblical references or the comment about “shanks.” (The comments by the prosecutor are discussed in the opinion of the circuit court, pp. 6-9)
The Ledger Enquirer, in Columbus GA, has a moving story, Execution date for Daniel Greene opens old wounds in Taylor County. HT to Crime and Capital Punishment Forum. Here are some highlights.
“People feel bad for both families,” said Freddie Harmon, Greene’s defensive line coach at Taylor County High School. “Nobody wants to see anybody executed.” The loss of Walker, a popular 20-year-old remembered as a “big teddy bear,” sparked unanimous outrage among friends, family members and law enforcement officials, who admired the young man and sought to recruit him to their ranks. Bob Bacle, the former Reynolds police chief, said the stabbings “devastated the community,” and that the impact was compounded by Walker’s character. “It’s bad that it happened to anybody, but with the caliber person that Bernard was, it shocked a lot of folks,” he said. “He had a big turnout at his funeral, black and white.”…
Taylor County Sheriff Jeff Watson, who played football with Greene, said talk of the case has reopened old wounds. The “million-dollar question,” he said, is what triggered Greene, who before the stabbings showed such little aggression that his coaches had to prod him to be tougher on the gridiron. “Before this incident happened, we had no problems whatsoever with Daniel,” said Giles (Nick Giles, the retired Taylor County sheriff). “All I knew was he was just a good kid in the community.” …
Convicted of murder, armed robbery and aggravated assault, Greene had confessed to the crimes to law enforcement, but he said at trial that he had no recollection of the stabbings or confessing. He claimed an acquaintance gave him a cigarette before the stabbings that was laced with some type of drug — not crack cocaine, he noted, admitting he would have recognized that. The cigarette “started tasting funny” and gave him a bad headache, he said. “It was like my body was on fire and everything,” he said. “And then I just blanked out.”
On Sept. 27, 1991, Greene made three trips to the Suwanee Swifty on Ga. 96. During his last stop, store clerk Virginia Wise was eating a sandwich and chips and drinking a V8 juice when she began to watch Greene in a mirror, pacing in front of a cooler. Before she knew it, Greene came behind the counter, grabbed her and ordered her to open the registers. Wise felt the sharp edge of a knife against her throat, but said she initially thought it was a mean joke. “My first instinct was, you’re kidding me … I can’t believe you’d want to do this,” she testified. “I always thought you were so nice and polite.” Greene grabbed about $145 in cash and took Wise to the back room — the bag of chips still in her hand — where he groped her, sliced her fingers and stabbed her in the side. Walker, who wanted to buy some bread and lunch meat, entered the store at some point, jingling the cowbell attached to the door. … Conflicting accounts of the confrontation were presented at trial, but authorities have long said that Walker likely tried to stop Greene and was stabbed in the process. As Greene fled the scene, Walker staggered from the store to get help but collapsed. His heart had been punctured. …
Greene wasn’t done. He went to a nearby home in Macon County and stabbed Willie and Donice Montgomery, an elderly couple he’d worked for as a laborer, and cut their phone line. Their injuries were extensive, and authorities described their survival as miraculous. Greene then drove the couple’s vehicle to a convenience store in Warner Robins, Ga., robbed the cashier and stabbed her in the back with a butcher knife. She, too, managed to survive. Authorities conducting a house-to-house search found Greene hiding in a woman’s residence in Warner Robins. Greene had told the woman to lie to inquiring officers, but they sensed something amiss and came “charging in like gang busters” to arrest him, Pullen said at trial. …
During the penalty phase, Greene told jurors he and Walker were “like brothers,” and that he never would have killed him had he been in his right mind. “I love to live, I don’t want to die.”
Daniel Greene has requested “fried chicken, french fries, a strawberry sundae and soda” for his last meal. Pictures today are from Ledger-Enquirer , Georgia Department of Corrections, and “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
UPDATE On April 17, 2012, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles granted a stay of execution to Daniel Greene.