The public will have a chance to be heard on California’s plan for a one-drug execution procedure at a public hearing in Sacramento, scheduled for Jan. 7 next year.
Executions have been on hold in California since 2006, when a federal judge invalidated the state’s three-drug “cocktail” then used for lethal injections. The judge said executions could continue if the state switched to a one-drug method. Presently around 750 males are confined on San Quentin’s Condemned Row. Twenty-one females, confined at a women’s facility in the Central Valley, are under death sentences.
In 2011 a Marin County judge rejected a new three-drug procedure proposed by the state, saying it did not explain why it had not chosen a one-drug method.
The controversy about execution methods comes amid a nationwide shortage of lethal injection drugs.
Since the 1980s many states in the U.S. have conducted executions using a three-drug “cocktail.” However, the European Union has forbidden manufacturers to sell their products to the U.S. if the drugs are to be used in capital punishment.
The botched 2015 execution of Charles F. Warner in Oklahoma, along with lawsuits in various states against three-drug executions, has led states across the country to switch to one-drug executions. All this comes after the U.S. Supreme Court, earlier this year, refused to block Oklahoma from using a controversial chemical as part of its three-drug protocol for lethal injections.
California’s proposal for a one-drug procedure was submitted on Nov. 6 in order to meet a court-imposed deadline on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), which had been sued by the families of murder victims who accused the state of dragging its feet on executions.
If the proposed one-drug procedure is implemented, 16 condemned men who have exhausted their appeals could be issued death warrants. The condemned men’s convictions occurred between 1981 and 1989. They range in age from the oldest, 78 (Royal Hayes), to the youngest, 49 (Tiequon Cox).
The proposed execution method would require San Quentin’s warden to choose one of the following lethal barbiturates: pentobarbital, amobarbital, secobarbital or thiopental, depending on which drug is available.
One-drug executions might cost slightly more than $185,000 per condemned prisoner, including the cost of drugs and the staff time needed to carry out the procedure.
The CDCR commented that the 2005 execution of Stanley “Tookie” Williams, founder of the “Crips” gang, was the costliest in the state’s history. Before the execution, all state prisons were “placed on lockdown alert status and extra security measures were implemented,” due to William’s high-profile status. According to the department, while it is possible that future executions could require this level of cost, it is not indicative of the average cost associated with an execution.
Prior to a scheduled execution, a sanity review of the condemned prisoner is conducted. Thereafter, the prisoner receives his or her requested last meal, gives instructions on what to do with personal property and disposal of remains, along with burial arrangements. If the prisoner resists the execution, a use-of force procedure is set in place.
In order to carry out executions, CDCR must create and train a Lethal Injection Team that comprises a minimum of 12 members.
The Intravenous Sub- Team (IST) would have a minimum of four members. The IST places the one-drug injection needles in the appropriate veins and places the heart monitor on the condemned prisoner.
The Infusion Sub-Team prepares the one-drug barbiturate according to the manufacturer’s directions. At least one of the four members must be a physician, physician’s assistant, pharmacist, registered nurse, emergency medical technician, paramedic or medic.
The Record Keeping Sub-Team (RKST) consists of a minimum of four members and is tasked with the countdown to beginning the injections, keeping a log and documenting each step of the execution.
Inside the execution chamber will be three color-coded trays, consisting of 7.5 grams of the one-drug barbiturate chosen by the warden.
Tray A, color-coded red, is the primary source of the lethal injection drug. Tray B, colored-coded blue, is a backup tray. Tray C, color-coded yellow, is an alternate backup tray.
Each tray has six color-coded syringes, five of which contain the one-drug barbiturate and one syringe containing a saline flush.
According to the proposed procedure, if all six syringes from Tray A have been administered, 10 minutes have elapsed and death has not been declared, the warden orders the backup syringes from Tray B. If the syringes from Tray B have been administered, 10 minutes have elapsed and death has not been declared, the alternate backups from Tray C would be administered.
In the event all six syringes from Tray C have been administered, 10 minutes have elapsed and death has not been declared, the warden orders the preparation of five additional syringes of the one-drug barbiturate.
In the event all five syringes have been administered, 10 minutes have elapsed and death has not been declared, the warden orders the preparation of a second set of five additional syringes of the one-drug barbiturate for the execution to be carried out.
After the condemned prisoner expires, the warden reads a prepared statement via the public address system notifying the witnesses the execution is complete.
The media is to be notified by the warden about an hour after the execution that the sentence has been carried out, including the time of death, along with any statement by the condemned prisoner.
There are procedures to “ensure the inmate’s body is placed with care and dignity into a postmortem bag pending removal as pre-arranged with the contract mortuary.”