ACLU: Drugs dangerous in executions

HELENA — A long execution in Ohio that left the condemned inmate gasping and snorting illustrates the dangers of using untested drug combinations in lethal injections, said a civil-rights group suing Montana over its execution method.

Montana last year changed its lethal-injection method from a combination of three drugs to two, but there hasn’t been an execution in the state since the change and the combination of those two drugs is untested in the U.S., said American Civil Liberties Union of Montana attorney Anna Conley.

Thursday’s execution of condemned inmate Dennis McGuire also involved an untested combination of two chemicals, though they were different from the ones called for in Montana’s execution protocol. It took 26 minutes for McGuire to die, prompting calls of cruel punishment.

Even though the drugs used in the two states are not the same, the results should give state corrections officials pause, Conley said Friday.