LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts is defending a proposal that would allow the state to obtain lethal injection drugs without disclosing its supplier.
Ricketts said Tuesday that the new protocol would allow greater flexibility for the Department of Correctional Services, which hasn't executed an inmate since 1997 and has never done so using the current three-drug protocol.
The administrative proposal announced Monday would allow the state corrections director to choose which drugs are used in an execution and withhold the name of the supplier.
Ricketts argues that the changes are already allowed under a 2009 state law which changed the protocol from electrocution to lethal injection. That law allows the identities of "all members of the execution team" to remain confidential.
Death penalty opponents say they plan to fight the proposal.
All contents © copyright 2016 Associated Press. All rights reserved.