May 22-- Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and attorneys general of 14 other states have asked the Justice Department to appeal a court decision that blocks supplies of a key lethal injection drug.
Pruitt and the other state attorneys general are asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to appeal the district court ruling known as the "Beaty decision," which blocks U.S. states from using foreign-manufactured sodium thiopental in executions.
The state attorneys general who signed the letter argue the Beaty decision violates federal policy and impairs states' ability to carry out capital punishment.
In March, a federal judge ruled in favor of death-row inmates in Tennessee, Arizona and California who argued that foreign-manufactured sodium thiopental should be banned because it has not been FDA-approved for importation.
Sodium thiopental is used by several states as the first part of a lethal injection cocktail; it renders prisoners unconscious. Foreign suppliers became the only source to obtain sodium thiopental after the sole domestic manufacturer announced in January 2011 it no longer would produce it.
Oklahoma switched to pentobarbital in 2010 after sodium thiopental supplies ran scarce, but now pentobarbital is also in short supply nationally.
In the letter, Pruitt and the other attorneys general argue the Beaty decision reversed what was the routine Food and Drug Administration practice to release imported thiopental to state departments of correction for use in executions, undermining the ability of states to properly enforce capital punishment laws.
"At the very core of the states' police powers are their powers to enact laws to protect their citizens against violent crimes. As state attorneys general, we are tasked with enforcing those laws, including in instances where capital punishment is authorized for the most heinous of crimes," the letter states.
The federal government still has access to lethal injection drugs, but it is hindering the states from being able to do the same thing, said Diane Clay, a spokeswoman for Pruitt's office.
The Department of Justice has until May 29 to appeal the Beaty decision, Clay said.
Cary Aspinwall 918-581-8477
Copyright 2012 - Tulsa World, Okla.
