A shortage of sodium thiopental was partly responsible for last week's delay of Albert Greenwood Brown Jr.'s execution. He would have been the 1st California prisoner put to death in nearly 5 years.
Prison officials obtained a drug essential to the lethal injection process the day after California's 1st execution in nearly 5 years was canceled due in part to a shortage of that drug, a court filing stated Wednesday.
The state attorney general's office told U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel it obtained 12 grams of sodium thiopental on Thursday, the day Albert Greenwood Brown Jr. was to be executed. But the execution had been called off the day before when the attorney general's office said a state Supreme Court ruling and the apparent drug shortage made his execution impossible.
The state now has enough of the drug to execute 4 inmates, but it's unclear whether a new execution date for Brown would be immediately sought.
On Tuesday, Fogel said it was his understanding that the state would not request an execution date until 30 days after court hearings, which aren't expected until early next year.
Fogel said he wants the attorney general's office and Brown's lawyers to submit written arguments before he schedules any court hearings, one of which may be held at San Quentin State Prison so the judge can inspect the state's new death chamber.
Source: Associated Press, October 7, 2010
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