Missouri Inmate Execution on Hold After Lawsuit Prevents Pharmacy From Selling Lethal Drugs
Missouri inmate Michael Anthony Taylor has been issued a stay of execution as the prison tries to find a pharmacy or company to sell them the lethal drugs they need to perform the execution. This is the second time that Taylor's execution has been put on hold.
The Apothecary Shoppe, a pharmacy in Oklahoma, agreed not to provide the drugs after Taylor sued, arguing that it was illegally providing Missouri with a lethal combination of drugs to be used for his execution. The pharmacy will not prepare or provide pentobarbital or any other drug for the execution.
Taylor was found guilty of abducting, raping, and stabbing a 15-year-old Kansas City girl in 1989. He was sentenced to death and has been on death row ever since. He was scheduled to be put to death on February 26, but due to the lawsuit against the Apothecary Shoppe, his execution has been put on hold.
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In the lawsuit, Taylor claimed that the drugs provided by the Shoppe would likely cause "severe, unnecessary, lingering, and ultimately inhumane pain." He cited the case of Michael Lee Wilson, who was put to death using compounded pentobarbital in early January. Before finally dying, Wilson said he felt his "whole body burning."
Last week, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon told the press that the state has the drugs needed to carry out Taylor's execution.
"In order to complete that ultimate responsibility, that's necessary. The Department of Corrections is prepared to carry out that execution," the governor said.
States throughout America have had trouble finding the necessary supply of pentobarbital to carry out their executions. Denmark, the country that normally provided the lethal drug stopped selling it to the U.S. after learning that it was primarily being used in executions. Since then, pharmacies have had to manufacture "compound" batches of pentobarbital in order to meet the needs of the prisons.
