Tennessee, which hasn’t put anyone to death since 2009, is now hoping to execute eight people before June 1. That means eight executions in four months.
The reason? State Attorney General Herbert Slatery says the state needs to act soon because lethal injection drugs may not be available after that date.
The Nashville Scene reports that the plan was announced even though corrections officials were warned in January, in emails from a person outside the government who was helping the state acquire the drugs, that its new cocktail of midazolam, vecuronium, and potassium chloride, could cause the prisoners “to feel pain” from the latter two drugs because midazolam “does not elicit strong analgesic effects.”
If lethal injections drugs are not available, the state does have the option of using the electric chair.