Last month, St Louis Public Radio’s Veronique LaCapra and Chris McDaniel reported that Missouri’s Democratic governor Jay Nixon delayed the execution of an inmate by lethal injection with the drug propofol.
The reason: pressure from the European Union, which is the largest supplier of propofol and an opponent of the death penalty. The E.U. threatened to restrict supplies of the drug to the U.S. if it was used to carry out a death sentence.
The move could have triggered a shortage of the drug, which is widely used in U.S. hospitals as an anesthetic.
Missouri now has a new plan to move ahead with its executions: It has chosen a different execution drug and changed the rules to hide the identity of the drug supplier.
From the Here & Now Contributors Network, LaCapra and McDaniel have this update.
Reporters
- Veronique LaCapra, science reporter for St. Louis Public Radio. She tweets @KWMUscience.
- Chris McDaniel, political reporter for St. Louis Public Radio. He tweets @csmcdaniel.
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