Hospira, based outside Chicago, is the sole U.S. manufacturer of sodium thiopental, which is better known by its old trademark name, sodium pentothal. Due to manufacturing problems, the company is unable to deliver sufficient quantities to prison authorities until early next year.

 

Officials in Kentucky already have delayed two executions because they’re running low on sodium thiopental. Ohio also is reportedly running low on the drug.

 

In Oklahoma, one death row inmate, Jeffrey Matthews, had been spared temporarily until more of the drug can be obtained. On September 1, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson filed a motion stating that the Department of Corrections now has enough sodium thiopental to proceed with the execution. Matthews was convicted of the 1994 murder of his great-uncle during a robbery attempt, although he has always denied that he was present at the robbery.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Anesthesia Shortage May Delay Executions (by Jessie Halladay, USA Today)

Lethal Injection Drug Shortage Halts Executions in Oklahoma (by Dara Downs, KXII-TV)

Fatal Drugs Dry Up, US Defers Execution (Agence France-Presse)