The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case challenging the use of the lethal injection in the United States, following a number of botched executions.
Lawyers for three death-row inmates in Oklahoma argued that the state’s three-drug protocol for executions violates constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment. The protocol includes the potentially unreliable sedative midazolam.
Midazolam was used in the controversial execution of Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett in 2014. Lockett’s execution took more than forty minutes. Although he was sedated, Lockett’s body writhed and he breathed heavily during the execution. Lockett eventually died of a heart attack.
Midazolam was also used in two other prolonged executions last year in Ohio and Arizona in which prisoners appeared to suffer.
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