Idaho to use one drug in executions

BOISE – Idaho’s executioners will use one drug to carry out a lethal injection scheduled next month, bringing the state in line with other death penalty states switching from a three-drug mixture, the state’s corrections chief said Friday.

The state execution team will administer a single, lethal dose of the surgical sedative pentobarbital during the scheduled June 12 execution of convicted murderer Richard Leavitt, said Brent Reinke, director of the Department of Corrections.

His decision marks a departure from Idaho’s most recent execution in November, when a mixture of three chemicals, including pentobarbital, was used to execute Paul Ezra Rhoades in the state’s first execution in 17 years.

Reinke said the single-dose injection complies with the newest version of the state’s execution policy, which also allows the state the options of returning to the three-drug mixture later.

The switch was also driven in part by the difficulty of obtaining the other two drugs that were used on Rhoades. Pentobarbital is an anesthetic used to put condemned inmates to sleep before other lethal drugs are administered, but it is lethal in higher doses.

Arizona, Ohio, Texas and several other states made the switch to pentobarbital last year.