Despite the controversy over how Missouri has carried out its past three executions, a state House hearing on Monday revealed little that hasn't already been reported:
- The Department of Corrections has been obtaining its execution drug from an Oklahoma compounding pharmacy that the state tried unsuccessfully to keep secret.
- A high-ranking Corrections official has been transporting thousands of dollars in cash to this Oklahoma pharmacy.
- A high-ranking Corrections official has been transporting thousands of dollars in cash to this Oklahoma pharmacy.
“Yes, it is cash money,” said George Lombardi, Corrections director, at the hearing. “That has been happening, I want to add, since the Ashcroft administration (and) through every governor.”
While Lombardi is correct that members of the "execution team" have previously been paid in cash, this situation is different. For the first time, the "execution team" has members who do not participate in carrying out the execution -- members who aren't even present for the execution.
David Dormire, the director of adult institutions, has been transporting a little more than $11,000 to the Apothecary Shoppe in Oklahoma. The pharmacy just recently became licensed to sell in Missouri.
“They’ve made it clear that we wouldn’t have the people required to carry out the death penalty” if it weren't cash, Lombardi said.
The hearing also delved into another issue: That the state has carried out executions before the courts have ruled on pending stays of execution.
It's a practice that's been criticized by national outlets and a federal judge.
Missouri has executed three inmates in as many months while motions for stays were still pending.
At the hearing, the attorney general’s office did not speak to the quality and source of the drug.
Source: kcur.org, Feb. 10, 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment