[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEVADA

[Rick Halperin]

July 11




NEVADA:

Judge halts execution of Scott Dozier in Nevada, next hearing won't happen for 
months


Scott Dozier’s execution was halted by a judge Wednesday — just hours before he 
was scheduled to die.

The 47-year-old twice convicted murderer was set to be executed by lethal 
injection at 8 p.m. at Ely State Prison.

On Tuesday, the New Jersey-based drug manufacturing company, Alvogen, filed a 
lawsuit against the state, its chief medical officer and the Department of 
Corrections, alleging state officials obtained its product, midazolam, 
unlawfully.

Clark County District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez disallowed the use of the 
company's 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.

Two other drug companies also objected to the use of its products in 
executions.

As a result, the execution was called off until further notice, the state 
Department of Corrections said in a news release Wednesday afternoon.

The delay is likely to last months, according to the ACLU of Nevada.
Possible big win for drug company

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.
Drug companies have fought similar situations around the country

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.
'You want to kill me, kill me, man'

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 convicted in 2007 for the robbery and murder of 22-year-old Jeremiah 
Miller. In 2002, Miller’s decapitated and dismembered torso was found in a 
suitcase in the trash outside the former La Concha Motel in Las Vegas.

He was also previously convicted for the murder of another man, 26-year-old 
Jasen Greene, whose body was found dismembered and buried in the desert near 
Phoenix.

Dozier has been fighting for the past year to secure his own execution. In a 
recent phone interview with the Reno Gazette Journal, Dozier said he was 
unhappy with his life on death row.

Nevada's last execution was in 2006.

(source: Associated Press)