[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEVADA

[Rick Halperin]

July 11



NEVADA----(temporary?) stay of impending execution

Judge halts tonight's Nevada execution, but Supreme Court could hear appeal 
today


A Nevada judge effectively put the execution of a two-time killer on hold 
Wednesday after a pharmaceutical company objected to the use of one of its 
drugs to put someone to death.

Clark County District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez disallowed the use of the drug 
in a ruling that came down less than nine hours before Scott Raymond Dozier, 
47, was to be executed with a three-chemical injection never before tried in 
the U.S.

The Nevada Supreme Court could hear an appeal Wednesday afternoon of the 
judge's ruling to halt the use of a drug in the execution of a twice-convicted 
killer.

Supreme Court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer says that some of the seven 
justices are in Chicago for a Nevada State Bar Association meeting, but that 
the court could meet by teleconference.

The state of Nevada had not yet appealed by midday. The state said it would 
explore whether it could appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Nevada state prisons spokeswoman Brooke Santina had no immediate comment.

The delay is likely to be at least 60 days, according to a tweet from the ACLU 
of Nevada.

If the ruling sticks, Alvogen would become the first drugmaker to successfully 
sue to halt an execution.

New Jersey-based Alvogen had urged the judge to block the use of its sedative 
midazolam, saying that the state illegally obtained the product through 
"subterfuge" and intended to use it for unapproved purposes. The pharmaceutical 
company raised concerns that the drug could lead to a botched execution, citing 
cases that seemingly went awry elsewhere around the country.

Todd Bice, an attorney with Alvogen, accused the state of deceptively obtaining 
the company's drug by having it shipped to a pharmacy in Las Vegas rather than 
the state prison in Ely. He said Alvogen had sent a letter to state officials 
in April telling them it opposes the use of its products in executions, 
particularly midazolam.

The judge ruled that based on that letter, Alvogen had a reasonable probability 
of winning its lawsuit, and she issued the temporary restraining order against 
the use of the drug. Gonzalez set a hearing in the case for Sept. 10.

Alvogen said in a statement that it was pleased with the ruling and will 
continue to work through the legal system to ensure its products are not used 
in executions.

A second pharmaceutical company, Sandoz, also raised objections at Wednesday's 
hearing to the use of one of its drugs — the muscle-paralyzing substance 
cisatracurium — in the execution. But the company did not immediately ask to 
formally join Alvogen's lawsuit.

A third company, Pfizer, last year demanded Nevada return the third drug 
intended for use in the execution, the powerful opioid fentanyl. But the state 
refused. Fentanyl, which has been blamed for deadly overdoses across the 
country, has not been used before in an execution.

Jordan T. Smith, an assistant Nevada solicitor general, countered at 
Wednesday's hearing that Nevada didn't put up a "smokescreen" or do anything 
wrong in getting the drugs. He said drugs ordered by the state prison system 
are regularly shipped to Las Vegas.

"This whole action is just PR damage control," Smith said of Alvogen.

Pharmaceutical companies have resisted the use of their drugs in executions for 
10 years, citing both legal and ethical concerns. However, the legal challenge 
filed by Alvogen is only the second of its kind in the U.S, said Robert Dunham, 
executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington. The 
previous challenge, filed last year by a different company in Arkansas, was 
ultimately unsuccessful in stopping that execution.

Alvogen's midazolam was substituted in May for Nevada's expired stock of 
diazepam, commonly known as Valium. The drug is intended to render the inmate 
unconscious. Nevada's new execution protocol also calls for the use of fentanyl 
to slow the inmate's breathing and cisatracurium to stop his breathing.

Bice said that Alvogen does not take a position on the death penalty itself but 
opposes the use of the drug in a way that is fundamentally contrary to the 
drug's purpose — saving and improving patients' lives.

In court papers, Alvogen also cited the risk of a botched execution, citing 
instances in Alabama, Arizona and Oklahoma in the past few years in which 
inmates were left gasping or snorting, appeared to regain consciousness or took 
an unusually long time to die.

Dozier, who attempted suicide in the past, has said he prefers execution to 
life behind bars.

And for the past year, Dozier has been fighting to secure his own execution. He 
described life on death row as “not an acceptable life.”

“I lived a life outside the law,” Dozier, 47, said in a recent phone interview 
with the Reno Gazette Journal. “You want to kill me, kill me, man.”

Dozier was sentenced to death in 2007 for robbing, killing and dismembering 
22-year-old Jeremiah Miller at a Las Vegas motel in 2002. Miller had come to 
Nevada to buy ingredients to make meth. His decapitated torso was found in a 
suitcase.

In 2005, Dozier was sentenced to 22 years in prison for shooting to death 
another drug-trade associate, 26-year-old Jasen Greene, whose body was found in 
2002 in a shallow grave outside Phoenix. A witness testified Dozier used a 
sledgehammer to break Greene's limbs so the corpse would fit in a plastic 
storage container.

Though Dozier dropped attempts to save his own life, he allowed federal public 
defenders to challenge the execution protocol. They argued that the untried 
three-drug combination would be less humane than putting down a pet.

Nevada's last execution was in 2006.

(source: Reno Gazette Journal)