The US Court of Appeals has strengthened Mississippi's method of executing inmates. This ruling was upheld despite protest from death row personnel regarding drugs that were used and were not approved by the state law.
Last August, a ruling was made by US District Judge Henry T. Wingate issuing a temporary halt and stop the state from undertaking executions. But just recently, 5TH Circuit US Court of Appeals Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod dismissed this order and said that if the inmates want to continue their fight against this issue then they should be doing in at the state court. She added that the states way of execution is not out of the ordinary.
In Mississippi, the law requires the state prisons to use three drugs during execution. The first drug will be a short-acting barbiturate followed by a paralyzing agent, and the last would be a drug that would stop the inmate's hearts beat. But after the year 2010, the state has had difficulty in obtaining these drugs as the manufacturers decline to sell it for the purpose of executions.
Because of this issue, the state is now proposing on using midazolam as an alternative. This drug doesn't make the person unconscious as quick as the previous drug. This is why prisoners claim that midazolam doesn't act as potent and might give them excruciating pain as the process of execution goes on. This pain violates the US constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. But a Supreme Court ruling in Oklahoma rendered the use of the drug constitutional.
The prisoner's representative, Attorney Jim Craig said that he was disappointed with the ruling but somehow expects to ask Wingate for another preliminary injunction. This time, he is more confident that they will get the approval of the Court of Appeals as they are getting more evidence regarding the problems of using midazolam as a substitute.
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood appreciated the ruling of the judge. He said that for years, these anti-death penalty groups are making a dubious claims regarding the process of execution just to temporarily stop the procedure. He added that if they really want to change the constitution, they will have to ask the legislative body to do it and not the judges who handle this cases.
