Story Published:
Apr 16, 2008 at 12:11 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Apr 16, 2008 at 3:39 PM CDT
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon and Gov. Matt Blunt say the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding Kentucky's use of lethal injection executions should open the way for the death penalty to start up again in Missouri. The nation's highest court turned back a constitutional challenge to Kentucky's three-drug procedure. Similar methods are used by about three dozen states, including Missouri.
The argument against the lethal injection protocol is, if the initial anesthetic does not take hold, the other two drugs can cause excruciating pain. One of those drugs would render the prisoner unable to express his discomfort.
Marlin Gray was the last Missouri inmate put to death, in 2005.
In Missouri, the attorney general requests an execution date,
which must be set by the state Supreme Court.
