South Dakota inmate Eric Robert was executed using contaminated compounded drugs-barbiturate pentobarbital


Unknown | 22:44 |

* Mr. Robert reportedly took 20 minutes to die and opened his eyes during the process, after which they remained open until the end.
A British human rights charity has accused the state of South Dakota for executing an inmate on October 17th using contaminated compounded drugs, the barbiturate pentobarbital.

The Charity, the Reprieve said in a statement that Eric Robert was executed in South Dakota on 15 October using a single dose of the barbiturate pentobarbital, which had been made to order by a compounding pharmacy.  The status of such pharmacies has been in the spotlight in recent weeks after one was linked to an outbreak of meningitis.
Mr. Robert reportedly took 20 minutes to die and opened his eyes during the process, after which they remained open until the end.
A certificate of analysis of the pentobarbital which was used in the execution found that it was contaminated with fungus.
Maya Foa, head of Reprieve’s lethal injection project said: “The use of drugs from compounding pharmacies is already risky, as US authorities have themselves stated. But to use contaminated drugs to carry out executions is to invite disaster. Without knowing where the drugs have come from, what their quality is, or even what kinds of drugs are being injected, there can be no assurances that the drugs will work – and the prisoner risks dying in agony.”

Background: SIOUX FALLS, S.D., Oct. 15 (UPI) — A South Dakota death row inmate who said he wanted to die chose to fast in the 40 hours before his scheduled execution, officials said.
Eric Robert was to be put to death by lethal injection at 10 p.m. Monday, the Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Argus-Leader reported.
Robert had his last meal — Moose Tracks ice cream — Saturday, his lawyer, Mark Kadi, said.
Robert requested the death penalty after he confessed to the April 12, 2011, murder of corrections officer Ronald “R.J.” Johnson during an attempted escape from the South Dakota State Penitentiary.
Kadi said it was not likely that Robert would request a habeas corpus appeal that could halt his execution.
“He’s been very calm,” Kadi said. “I’ve seen him angry and stressed out, and that’s not what he is right now.”
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/10/15/SD-inmate-fasts-before-execution/UPI-49681350314800/#ixzz29uNvwrLX

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