[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 24



USA:

Midazolam and the Supreme Court----Only 1 week after refusing to stay Charles 
Warner's execution, the justices will now hear his fellow inmates' appeal on a 
questionable lethal-injection drug.

What changed?

Last week, the state of Oklahoma executed Charles Warner after the Supreme 
Court refused to halt his execution while he appealed the constitutionality of 
the drugs used to kill him. Warner and 3 other death-row inmates argued that 
midazolam, a sedative used by Oklahoma and 3 other states in lethal injections, 
did not properly induce unconsciousness and would therefore lead to a 
horrifyingly painful death.

A 5-justice majority, however, denied Warner's request for a stay without 
comment, and the state of Oklahoma executed Warner shortly thereafter. Justice 
Sonia Sotomayor and three other justices dissented, arguing that Warner and the 
other inmates had raised serious questions about Oklahoma's lethal-injection 
procedures. "I hope that our failure to act today does not portend our 
unwillingness to consider these questions," Sotomayor wrote.

Those hopes were not in vain. On Friday, the Supreme Court granted the three 
remaining plaintiffs' petition to hear their case, titled Glossip v. Gross, 
after it was relisted for further consideration. The justices gave no 
indication why they would refuse to stay Warner's execution, then agree to hear 
his case 7 days later. Requests for the Court to stay the other three inmates' 
executions are forthcoming, said Dale Baich, one of their attorneys.

The Supreme Court has not addressed a lethal injection protocol's 
constitutionality since Baze v. Rees in 2008. A 6-justice majority ruled then 
that a 3-drug cocktail - the sedative sodium thiopental, the paralytic 
pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride - did not violate the Eighth 
Amendment. But without sodium thiopental to anesthetize a condemned inmate, the 
court wrote, there would be "a substantial, constitutionally unacceptable risk 
of suffocation from the administration of pancuronium bromide and of pain from 
potassium chloride." In other words, the inmate would die in agony as he or she 
suffocated to death.

Amid intense pressure by anti-death-penalty activists, the last American drug 
maker to produce sodium thiopental withdrew from the market in 2011. State 
officials scrambled to find alternative sources in overseas markets, leading to 
a European Union embargo of lethal-injection drugs and raids by the U.S. Drug 
Enforcement Agency to seize stockpiles of sodium thiopental that had been 
imported without a license.

Without sodium thiopental, states then experimented with alternative cocktails. 
Midazolam, a sedative from the benzodiazepine family, was first used for 
executions in Florida as part of a 3-drug cocktail without apparent 
complication. Outside of the Sunshine State, however, it has led to at least 3 
botched executions. Last January, Dennis McGuire told observers during his 
execution with midazolam and hydromorphone in Ohio that he could "feel his 
whole body burning" as he died. In July, Joseph Wood gasped for air for 1 hour 
and 57 minutes in Arizona during his executions with the same 2-drug cocktail.

Oklahoma first used a 3-drug midazolam cocktail identical to Florida's to 
execute Clayton Lockett last April. During his execution, an improper IV 
placement failed to deliver enough of the paralytic drug into his bloodstream, 
and he died of a massive heart attack while writhing in pain. In the aftermath, 
the other 4 Oklahoma death-row inmates appealed for a stay of their executions, 
arguing that midazolam did not produce a "deep, comalike unconsciousness" and 
was therefore an unacceptable substitute for sodium thiopental. As Justice 
Sotomayor observed last week, this paralytic's absence may have revealed pain 
and suffering that would otherwise be unobservable. This possibility raises 
serious questions about all executions performed with midazolam, including 
those carried out without incident in Florida.

The Supreme Court has never struck down an existing method of execution as 
unconstitutional. A ruling that forbids midazolam would reverberate even 
throughout states that do not use the sedative. No execution chamber in the 
U.S. currently uses the Baze cocktail, and no pharmaceutical company currently 
provides its key ingredient to American death rows. Even states like Texas, 
which uses a single-drug protocol with pentobarbital in its lethal injections, 
could find themselves on unsure constitutional footing.

(source: The Atlantic)

********************

US death penalty: Supreme Court to decide lethal injection case ---- US high 
court last week allowed Oklahoma execution to go on, despite questions over 
drugs used



The US Supreme Court revealed on Friday that it would look into lethal 
injections in Oklahoma, just a week after it allowed the execution of a man in 
that state, despite questions about the deadly drugs combined for the lethal 
injections.

The Oklahoma case was brought by 3 death row inmates in the state who say that 
lethal injections violate the US Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual 
punishment, according to a report from Reuters. All 3 of the inmates who 
brought the case are scheduled to be put to death within the next 2 months.

Questions have surrounded the 3-drug lethal injection process used in Oklahoma 
since April 2014, when the state botched the execution of convicted murderer 
Clayton Lockett. Execution officials had a difficult time placing Lockett's IV 
for the injection and it took 43 minutes for him to die, during which he was 
seen writing in pain, according to reports of the incident.

An investigation into Lockett's execution revealed that it wasn't the drugs 
that caused the slow, painful death, but the IV connection. Still, the state 
altered its lethal injection procedure following the Lockett debacle.

The Lockett case brought up questions of whether the Supreme Court would halt 
further executions in Oklahoma, pending a procedural review. On 15 January, the 
Supreme Court declined to halt the execution of Charles Warner, who was 
convicted of raping and murdering an 11-month-old baby.

The inmates who brought the case before the high court are Richard Glossip, 
John Grant and Benjamin Cole. Glossip is slated to be killed on 29 January for 
arranging the murder of his former boss. Grant's execution is scheduled for 19 
February, after he was convicted of stabbing a correctional officer to death. 
Cole, who is to be killed on 5 March, was convicted of killing his 9-month-old 
daughter.

It was not immediately clear if the Supreme Court would halt any of the 3 
executions while it's waiting to hear the case, which is to be argued on April, 
with a decision expected before July.

(source: The Independent)

*****************************

Supreme Court To Take Up Use Of Lethal Injection



The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review Oklahoma's method of execution by 
lethal injection, taking up a case brought by three death row inmates who 
accuse the state of violating the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual 
punishment.

The high court just last week allowed the execution of a convicted killer to go 
ahead in Oklahoma over the objection of its four liberal members.

The 3-drug process used by Oklahoma prison officials for carrying out the death 
penalty has been widely debated since the April 2014 botched execution of 
inmate Clayton Lockett, a convicted murder. He could be seen twisting on the 
gurney after death chamber staff failed to place the IV properly.

The inmates challenging the state's procedures argue that the sedative used by 
Oklahoma, midazolam, cannot achieve the level of unconsciousness required for 
surgery and was therefore unsuitable for executions.

On Jan. 15, the high court declined to halt the execution of another Oklahoma 
inmate, Charles Warner, who was convicted of raping and murdering an 
11-month-old baby. The court was divided 5-4, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor 
writing a dissenting opinion.

Although 5 votes are needed to grant a stay application, only 4 are required 
for the court to take up a case.

The inmates say the 3-drug protocol used by the state can cause extreme pain in 
violation of the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

After the Lockett execution, the state revised its protocols by increasing the 
amount of midazolam used to render an inmate unconscious. Lower courts signed 
off on the change, as did the divided Supreme Court.

In her dissent in the Warner case, Sotomayor said she was "deeply troubled by 
this evidence suggesting that midazolam cannot be constitutionally used as the 
1st drug in a 3-drug lethal injection protocol."

The inmates want the court to decide whether its 2008 decision in a case called 
Baze v. Rees in which the justices upheld the three-drug execution protocol 
used by Kentucky applies to Oklahoma's procedures. Lawyers for the inmates say 
that the Oklahoma protocol is different, so the reasoning of the 2008 ruling 
should not apply.

The inmates are Richard Glossip, John Grant and Benjamin Cole. Glossip, who 
arranged for his employer to be beaten to death, is scheduled to be executed on 
Jan. 29. Grant, who stabbed a correctional worker to death, is due to be put to 
death on Feb. 19. Cole, convicted of killing his 9-month-old daughter, is 
scheduled to be executed on March 5.

The brief court order did not note whether the court had agreed to stay the 
executions.


The case will be argued in April, with a decision due by the end of June.

(source: Reuters)

********************

The botched executions behind the Supreme Court case on lethal injection



Late Friday afternoon, the Supreme Court announced it would review lethal 
injection procedures used for many death row inmates across the country after a 
few of botched executions raised concerns about whether the procedure is 
unconstitutional.

Those problematic executions include Clayton Lockett, an Oklahoma inmate in 
April who died of a heart attack 43 minutes after the lethal injection process 
was started. After the 1st of a 3-drug cocktail was supposed to make him 
unconscious, Lockett began writhing on the gurney. Months earlier in Ohio, 
Dennis McGuire struggled and choked for several minutes and took nearly 25 
minutes to die from the lethal injection. Arizona inmate Joseph R. Wood took 
nearly 2 hours to die, with witnesses saying he gasped and snorted for much of 
it. Other cases of problematic executions have been reported.

The question before the court now is whether the lethal injection protocol, 
which has undergone unexpected changes in the past few years, amounts to cruel 
and unusual punishment.

How lethal injection has changed

Until a few years ago, most lethal injections used a three-drug combination - 
an anesthetic, a paralytic drug and a drug stopping the heart. The most common 
anesthetic used was sodium thiopental, but in 2011, its sole manufacturer said 
it would no longer make it after Italian officials banned export of the drug 
for capital punishment. So states started using a different anesthetic, 
pentobarbital - until its manufacturer, a Danish company known as Lundbeck, 
protested its use in executions.

In turn, states started using new and untested combinations to carry out lethal 
injections, which is still the main method of executions in the United States. 
A Germany company said it would stop providing its anesthetic for lethal 
injections, and a compounding pharmacy last year refused to provide drugs to 
execute a Missouri inmate.

There's been a high level of secrecy

There's also been secrecy about where and how states are getting these new 
drugs. As my colleagues reported last April, following Lockett's execution:

In their scramble to carry out death sentences, prison officials from different 
states have made secret handoffs of lethal-injection drugs. State workers have 
carried stacks of cash into unregulated compounding pharmacies to purchase 
chemicals for executions. Some states, like Oklahoma, have relied on unproven 
drug cocktails, all while saying they must conceal the source of the drugs 
involved to protect suppliers from legal action and harassment.

"It looks like a street-level drug deal," said Dean Sanderford, a lawyer for 
Lockett. "And they're keeping all the information secret from us. .?.?. They 
don't need to be carrying out any more executions until they come clean, until 
we know exactly what happened with Clayton???s execution and everything about 
these drugs, where they???re getting them."

What's changed in Oklahoma

After a review of Lockett's death, Oklahoma a few months ago announced changes 
to its lethal injection procedure. The state says it will now use 5 times as 
much of the sedative midazolam, which it used for the 1st time in Lockett's 
execution last year. The state last week executed its 1st inmate since Lockett, 
and there were no apparent signs of distress.

What other states have done

The high-profile botched executions haven't changed much for states around the 
country. As the Boston Globe reported last month, some states are looking at 
other ways of executing death row inmates. Oklahoma is apparently looking at 
becoming the first state to use "forced deprivation of oxygen," while Tennessee 
may bring back the electric chair and Utah may reinstate the firing squad, 
according to the Globe.

Support for the death penalty is down

Nationwide support for the death penalty has been declining, but at least 60 % 
of people still favor it. After series of botched executions, pollsters 
expressed doubt those incidents would change public attitudes in a significant 
way. Still, at least 6 states have abolished the death penalty since 2007, and 
18 states in total ban it.

(source: Jason Millman, Washington Post)

**************************

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev case jury is slow to form



The 1st full work week of jury selection in the trial of alleged Boston 
Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ended Friday with a total of 81 prospective 
jurors facing questioning in what is turning into a tedious process, as both 
prosecutors and defense attorneys challenge the suitability of potential 
panelists.

Tsarnaev, 21, faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted in the 
April 2013 bombing that killed 3 and injured hundreds more, and lawyers on both 
sides of the case have sparred over whether potential jurors are suitable to 
serve.

Jurors must be willing to hand out the death penalty if Tsarnaev is convicted, 
but they must also be open to granting a lesser sentence of life in prison. And 
many jurors seemed to struggle to give definitive answers when questioned.

"I'm not a huge fan of the death penalty, but I also know I don't really know. 
. . . I don't know what to think about it," said 1 potential juror, a software 
developer for a consulting firm.

"It's one of those things you wish you never have to do, but there are times 
you realize you need to do it," he said.

The potential jurors have not been identified by name.

US District Judge George A. O'Toole Jr. plans to seat a final panel of 12 
jurors and 6 alternates, though he has abandoned his goal of completing the 
task by Monday. The selection of a jury for a death penalty trial could take a 
month, if not longer. It took O'Toole 6 days to question the 81 potential 
jurors, and the process of culling jurors from the initial pool of 1,373 people 
will continue next week.

The judge has not said how many of the jurors he has questioned so far have 
been entered into the final pool of qualified panelists, and he has let lawyers 
and prosecutors argue over their qualifications in closed hearings.

Defense lawyers have asked the judge to be more thorough in determining whether 
jurors have any bias or presumptions in the case. They also asked in a 3rd 
request Thursday to relocate the trial to a district outside Boston, saying it 
will be impossible to pick a jury in the same city where the bombs went off. 
The judge has not decided on the latest request.

3 people were killed and more than 260 were injured when the bombs went off at 
the finish line on April 15, 2013.

Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan also allegedly shot and killed an MIT 
police officer. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed during a confrontation with police 
in Watertown.

(source: Boston Globe)

******************

Death Penalty Fast Facts



Here's a look at the death penalty in the United States.

Facts:

Capital punishment is legal in 32 U.S. states.

Connecticut and New Mexico have abolished the death penalty, but it is not 
retroactive. Prisoners on death row in those states will still be executed.

As of October 2014 there were 3,035 inmates awaiting execution.

Since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court, 
1,394 people have been executed. (as of December 2014)

Japan is the only industrial democracy besides the United States that has the 
death penalty. In Japan, the 2013 per capita execution rate was 1 execution per 
15,809,458 persons.

Federal Government: (source: Death Penalty Information Center)

The U.S. government and U.S. military have 69 people awaiting execution. (as of 
October 2014)

The U.S. government has executed 3 people since 1976.

Females:

There are 57 women on death row in the United States. (as of October 2014)

15 women have been executed since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 
1976. (as of October 2014)

Juveniles:

22 individuals were executed between 1985 and 2003 for crimes committed as 
juveniles aged 16 and 17.

March 1, 2005 - Roper v. Simmons. The Supreme Court rules that the execution of 
juveniles is unconstitutional. This means that 16 and 17-year-olds are 
ineligible for execution. And reverses 2 1989 cases in Kentucky and Missouri.

Clemency:

Clemency Processes around the Country.

275 clemencies have been granted in the United States since 1976.

For federal death row inmates, the president alone has the power to grant a 
pardon.

Timeline:

1834 - Pennsylvania becomes the 1st state to move executions into correctional 
facilities, ending public executions.

1838 - Discretionary death penalty statutes are enacted in Tennessee.

1846 - Michigan becomes the 1st state to abolish the death penalty for all 
crimes except treason.

1890 - William Kemmler becomes the 1st person executed by electrocution.

1907-1917 - 9 states abolish the death penalty for all crimes or strictly limit 
it. By 1920, 5 of those states had reinstated it.

1924 - The use of cyanide gas is introduced as an execution method.

1930s - Executions reach the highest levels in American history, averaging 167 
per year.

June 29, 1972 - Furman v. Georgia. The Supreme Court effectively voids 40 death 
penalty statutes and suspends the death penalty.

1976 - Gregg v. Georgia. The death penalty is reinstated.

January 17, 1977 - A 10-year moratorium on executions ends with the execution 
of Gary Gilmore by firing squad in Utah.

1977 - Oklahoma becomes the 1st state to adopt lethal injection as a means of 
execution.

December 7, 1982 - Charles Brooks becomes the 1st person executed by lethal 
injection.

1984 - Velma Barfield of North Carolina becomes the 1st woman executed since 
reinstatement of the death penalty.

1986 - Ford v. Wainwright. Execution of insane persons is banned.

1987 - McCleskey v. Kemp. Racial disparities are not recognized as a 
constitutional violation of "equal protection of the law" unless intentional 
racial discrimination against the defendant can be shown.

1988 - Thompson v. Oklahoma. Executions of offenders age 15 and younger at the 
time of their crimes are declared unconstitutional.

1989 - Stanford v. Kentucky, and Wilkins v. Missouri. The Eighth Amendment does 
not prohibit the death penalty for crimes committed at age 16 or 17.

1994 - President Bill Clinton signs the Violent Crime Control and Law 
Enforcement Act that expands the federal death penalty.

1996 - The last execution by hanging takes place in Delaware, with the death of 
Billy Bailey.

January 31, 2000 - A moratorium on executions is declared by Illinois Governor 
George Ryan. Since 1976, Illinois is the 1st state to block executions.

2002 - Atkins v. Virginia. The Supreme Court rules that the execution of 
mentally retarded defendants violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and 
unusual punishment.

January 2003 - Before leaving office, Governor George Ryan grants clemency to 
all of the remaining 167 inmates on Illinois's death row, due to the flawed 
process that led to the death sentences.

June 2004 - New York's death penalty law is declared unconstitutional by the 
state's high court.

March 1, 2005 - Roper v. Simmons. The Supreme Court rules that the execution of 
juvenile killers is unconstitutional. The 5-4 decision tosses out the death 
sentence of a Missouri man who was 17-years-old when he murdered a St. Louis 
area woman in 1993.

December 2, 2005 - The execution of Kenneth Lee Boyd in North Carolina marks 
the 1,000th time the death penalty has been carried out since it was reinstated 
by the Supreme Court in 1976. Boyd, 57, is executed for the 1988 murders of his 
wife, Julie Curry Boyd, and father-in-law, Thomas Dillard Curry.

June 12, 2006 - The Supreme Court rules that death row inmates can challenge 
the use of lethal injection as a method of execution.

December 15, 2006 - Florida Governor Jeb Bush suspends the death penalty after 
the execution of prisoner Angel Diaz. Diaz had to be given 2 injections, and it 
took more than 30 minutes for him to die.

December 15, 2006 - Judge Jeremy Fogel of the U.S. District Court in San Jose 
rules that lethal injection in California violates the constitutional 
prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

December 17, 2007 - Governor Jon Corzine signs legislation banning the death 
penalty in New Jersey. The death sentences of 8 men are commuted to life terms.

September 2007 - The U.S. Supreme Court takes up the case of Baze and Bowling 
v. Rees, in which two Kentucky death row inmates challenged Kentucky's use of a 
3-drug mixture for death by lethal injection.

December 31, 2007 - Due to the de facto moratorium on executions, pending the 
Supreme Court's ruling, only 42 people in the U.S. are executed in 2007. It is 
the lowest total in more than 10 years.

April 14, 2008 - In a 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court upholds Kentucky's use of 
lethal injection. Between September 2007, when the Court took on the case, and 
April 2008 no one was executed in the U.S.

March 18, 2009 - Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico signs legislation 
repealing the death penalty in his state. His actions will not affect 2 
prisoners currently on death row, Robert Fry, who killed a woman in 2000, and 
Tim Allen, who killed a 17-year-old girl in 1994.

November 13, 2009 - Ohio becomes the 1st state to switch to a method of lethal 
injection using a single drug, rather than the 3-drug method used by other 
states.

2010 - Execution by firing squad is used for the last time in Utah, with the 
death of Ronnie Lee Gardner.

March 9, 2011 - Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn announces that he has signed 
legislation eliminating the death penalty in his state, more than 10 years 
after the state halted executions.

March 16, 2011 - The Drug Enforcement Agency seizes Georgia's supply of 
thiopental, over questions of where the state obtained the drug. U.S. 
manufacturer Hospira stopped producing the drug in 2009. The countries that 
still produce the drug do not allow it to be exported to the U.S. for use in 
lethal injections.

May 20, 2011 - The Georgia Department of Corrections announces that 
pentobarbital will be substituted for sodium thiopental in the 3-drug lethal 
injection process.

July 2011 - Lundbeck Inc., the company that makes pentobarbital (brand name 
Nembutal), the drug used in lethal injections, announces it will restrict the 
use of its product from prisons carrying out capital punishment. "After much 
consideration, we have determined that a restricted distribution system is the 
most meaningful means through which we can restrict the misuse of Nembutal. 
While the company has never sold the product directly to prisons and therefore 
can't make guarantees, we are confident that our new distribution program will 
play a substantial role in restricting prisons' access to Nembutal for misuse 
as part of lethal injection." Lundbeck also states that it "adamantly opposes 
the distressing misuse of our product in capital punishment."

July 7, 2011 - Humberto Leal Garcia, Jr., a Mexican national, is executed by 
lethal injection, in Texas for the 1994 kidnap, rape and murder of Adra Sauceda 
in San Antonio. Despite pleas from the U.S. State Department and the White 
House, Texas Governor Rick Perry does not grant clemency and the U.S. Supreme 
Court does not intervene.

November 22, 2011 - Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon grants a reprieve to Gary 
Haugen, who was scheduled to be executed December 6. Kitzhaber, a licensed 
physician, also puts a moratorium on all state executions for the remainder of 
his term in office.

April 25, 2012 - Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signs S.B. 280, An Act 
Revising the Penalty for Capital Felonies, into law. The law goes into effect 
immediately and replaces the death penalty with life without the possibility of 
parole. The law is not retroactive to those already on death row.

June 22, 2012 - The Arkansas Supreme Court strikes down the state's execution 
law, calling the form of lethal injection the state uses unconstitutional.

August 7, 2012 - The Supreme Court allows the execution of Marvin Wilson, 54, a 
Texas inmate with low IQ.

November 6, 2012 - A measure to repeal the death penalty in California fails.

May 2, 2013 - Maryland's governor signs a bill repealing the death penalty. The 
legislation goes into effect October 1.

June 26, 2013 - Texas executes its 500th prisoner since 1982, Kimberly 
McCarthy, for the 1997 murder of Dorothy Booth. McCarthy is the 1st female 
executed in the U.S. since 2010.

November 20, 2013 - Missouri executes white supremacist serial killer Joseph 
Paul Franklin for the 1977 murder of Gerald Gordon. He was blamed for 22 
killings between 1977 and 1980.

January 16, 2014 - Ohio executes inmate Dennis McGuire with a new combination 
of drugs, due to the unavailability of drugs such as pentobarbital. The state 
used a combination of the drugs midazolam, a sedative, and the painkiller 
hydromorphone, according to the state corrections department. According to 
witness Alan Johnson of the Columbus Dispatch, the whole execution process took 
24 minutes, and McGuire appeared to be gasping for air for 10 to 13 minutes.

February 11, 2014 - Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announces that he is issuing a 
moratorium on death penalty cases during his term in office.

May 22, 2014 - Tennessee becomes the 1st state to make death by electric chair 
mandatory when lethal injection drugs are unavailable.

May 28, 2014 - A judge in Ohio issues an order temporarily suspending 
executions in the state so that authorities can further study new lethal 
injection protocols.

July 23, 2014 - Arizona uses a new combination of drugs for the lethal 
injection to execute convicted murderer Joseph Woods. After he was injected it 
took him nearly 2 hours to die. Witness accounts differ as to whether he was 
gasping for air or snoring as he died.

September 4, 2014 - The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety issues a report on 
the controversial April execution of inmate Clayton Lockett. Complications with 
the placement of an IV into Lockett played a significant role in problems with 
his execution, according to the report. An autopsy confirmed that Lockett died 
from the execution drugs and not from a heart attack, but many consider it 
botched nonetheless because it took 43 minutes for him to die.

November 19, 2014 - A Utah legislative committee votes 9-2 to endorse a bill 
that will allow the execution of condemned prisoners by firing squad if drugs 
needed for lethal injection are not available. The bill is scheduled to be 
heard by full Utah Legislature convening in January 2015.

December 22, 2014 - A U.S. district court judge in Oklahoma rules that future 
scheduled executions may proceed after he denies a preliminary injunction 
request filed by 21 Oklahoma death row inmates stemming from the problematic 
execution of Clayton Lockett on April 29th.

December 22, 2014 - Arizona's state-commisioned review board decides that the 
execution of Joseph Woods was "handled appropriately," but that it will be 
changing the combination they use in future executions from a 2 drug formula to 
a 3 drug formula, or a single drug injection if the State can obtain it 
(pentobarbital).

December 31, 2014 - Outgoing Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley takes the state's 
last 4 inmates off death row, commuting their sentences to life in prison 
without parole in one of his final acts in office.

January 8, 2015 - Ohio announces that it is reincorporating thiopental sodium, 
a drug which it used in executions from 1999-2011, into it's execution policy. 
The state is also dropping the two-drug regimen of midazolam and hydromorphone.

(source: CNN)