South Carolina to resume prisoners' executions by lethal injection after 12-year hiatus

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) – The US state of South Carolina announced on Tuesday that it will resume executions of prisoners sentenced to death by lethal injection after a 12-year hiatus.

"Justice has been delayed for too long in South Carolina," Live 5 News WCSC quoted Governor Henry McMaster as saying, following the Department of Corrections announcement that the state can once again resume executions by lethal injection.

"This filing brings our state one step closer to being able to once again carry out the rule of law and bring grieving families and loved ones the closure they are rightfully owed," McMaster said.

A shield law was approved by the South Carolina General Assembly in May, allowing the state to keep the method of executions and the sources of any drugs or other supplies used a secret.

The state has been able to secure pentobarbital for carrying out an execution by lethal injection under a one-drug protocol, the broadcaster reported, citing a governor’s office statement.

“The department’s lethal injection policy has been revised to provide for the use of a one-drug protocol.

“The new protocol is essentially identical to protocols used by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and at least six other states. Courts have upheld the use of this drug against constitutional challenges,” the statement said.

Pentobarbital is used in 14 states in executions, including Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, according Death Penalty Information Center.

South Carolina had an unintended 12-year moratorium on the death penalty after its lethal injection drugs passed their expiration date and pharmacies refused to sell the state more.