Defense lawyers concerned about Missouri execution drug

ST. LOUIS -- As the Missouri Supreme Court decides whether to set execution dates for six condemned killers, attorneys for death row inmates are raising concerns about the state's new one-drug lethal injection method.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster last month asked the state Supreme Court to set execution dates for up to 19 condemned men. Court records released Thursday to The Associated Press show the court has advised attorneys for six of those inmates that they have until June 29 to show why an execution date should not be set.

One of the 19 men is Russell Bucklew. Bucklew, a former electrician who grew up in Lincoln County, was sentenced in 1997 for crimes he committed in Cape Girardeau County. Bucklew was convicted of shooting Michael Sanders to death and then beating and abducting a woman who was Bucklew's ex-girlfriend. Bucklew raped the woman and took her with him as he drove toward St. Louis. Bucklew was apprehended after a gunfight with police officers. Bucklew escaped from the Cape Girardeau County Jail before his trial but was later captured.

Attorneys for the inmates are citing a variety of concerns, but high on their lists is the new execution method.

Modern executions around the U.S. have used a nearly identical three-drug method -- until recently. One drug, sodium thiopental, is no longer available because its maker won't sell it for use in executions.

States have scrambled to find substitutes. Missouri announced in May the switch to a single execution drug, an anesthetic called propofol that has never been used in an execution in the U.S. It is the same drug that caused the overdose of pop star Michael Jackson in 2009.

Cheryl Pilate, the attorney for inmate Herbert Smulls, wrote in a filing to the Supreme Court that propofol has been known to cause extreme pain in some patients, even in normal doses. She wrote that the Missouri plan calls for a dose 15 times greater than normal, potentially increasing the risk of pain and suffering.

"It's an untested protocol," Pilate said in an interview. "It has not been used anywhere else. No one has ever done this."

Pilate said people vary in their reactions to propofol and there is no guarantee how it would work as an execution drug.

"We don't know anything about the training they [executioners] receive," she said. "We don't know anything about the scientific research the state has done. We see nothing but the bare protocol itself."

St. Louis attorney Richard Sindel made a similar argument on behalf of inmate David Barnett. Sindel did not return messages seeking comment.

Koster was unavailable for comment Thursday, spokeswoman Nanci Gonder said. He wrote in court filings that the state is prepared and ready to proceed with executions.

But Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Teitelman noted that although news reports indicated the state had changed to a one-drug method, neither the attorney general nor the Department of Corrections "has notified the Court of its adoption of a new protocol or the basis for such adoption."

All six inmates facing potential execution dates were convicted of first-degree murder. In addition to Smulls and Barnett, they include Jeffrey Ferguson, Allen Nicklasson, Joseph Franklin and William Rousan.

Propofol, marketed as Diprivan, is made by AstraZeneca. Spokespeople for AstraZeneca and its U.S. marketer, APP, have declined comment on its use in executions.

Missouri is one of three states with a single-drug execution protocol. The others are Arizona and Ohio, but they are using a different drug.

Three other states -- South Dakota, Idaho and Washington -- have options for single- or multiple-drug executions, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. California and Kentucky are exploring a switch to a one-drug method.