A debate over the quality of a death drug from India has bought convicted Nebraska killer Carey Dean Moore more life.
After 30-plus years of appeals, Moore won a stay of execution Wednesday from the Nebraska Supreme Court. It was his sixth stay.
He did so, in part, by raising objections to the drug meant for his lethal injection. Moore argues that the sodium thiopental that Nebraska purchased from a Mumbai company fails to comply with U.S. pharmaceutical standards.
“We don't know whether the drug is any good or not, because it was not manufactured in compliance with American pharmaceutical standards. And you can't test anyone without breaking the law,” said Jerry Soucie, Moore's attorney.
It is unclear how long resolving Moore's latest appeals will take, though the case could return to the Nebraska Supreme Court — and eventually end up in federal court.
The state is reviewing its options, said Shannon Kingery, spokeswoman for Attorney General Jon Bruning.
No one has died by the needle in Nebraska since state lawmakers scrapped the electric chair for lethal injection in 2009. Moore's appeals give the courts their best chance yet to review the lethal injection law.
Moore is the longest-serving of Nebraska's 11 death-row inmates.
He was convicted in the 1979 execution-style slayings of two Omaha cabdrivers: Reuel Van Ness Jr. and Maynard Helgeland, both 47. Moore shot and killed them for $140, which he used to buy drugs.
His appeal comes as Nebraska and other states that rely on lethal injection for executions are finding it hard to acquire the sedative in question, one of three drugs in a lethal cocktail.
An American company quit manufacturing the drug this year, forcing states to purchase it from other countries. Nebraska purchased about 500 vials from the Indian company in January.
The scarcity of the drug and appeals stemming from its importation have stalled several executions nationally, including some planned in California and Oklahoma.
Moore had been scheduled to die June 14.
His attorney filed an appeal in Douglas County questioning the drug and the right of the state to switch Moore's mode of execution from the electric chair to lethal injection.
Moore had been sentenced to die by electric chair, a method the state's high court found unconstitutional. Soucie argues that the state cannot change Moore's sentence after the fact.
Don Kleine, the Douglas County attorney, said his office has filed a motion asking the district court to dismiss Moore's appeal on the grounds that the court lacks the authority to resolve the issue of the lethal-injection drugs.
If Moore loses in Douglas County, he could conceivably appeal to the Nebraska Supreme Court. Were he to lose there, he could look to federal court.
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