LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services has released records on its execution team’s training as the state moves toward its first execution in more than 20 years.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska filed a public-records request to determine the state execution team’s preparation for carrying out a lethal injection.
The corrections department’s records show the execution team trained on five dates for a total of more than 10 hours since Jan. 1, 2017, the Lincoln Journal Star reported . The specialized escort team trained four days for a total of more than 5 hours.
The department didn’t share training records for a specialized IV team, as requested by the ACLU. The department also didn’t confirm whether a specialized IV team exists.
Prisons spokeswoman Dawn-Renee Smith said the department is in compliance with the training protocol.
Attorney General Doug Peterson asked the state Supreme Court last week to speed up its consideration of an execution warrant for Carey Dean Moore, who was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1979 shooting deaths of two Omaha cab drivers. Peterson also requested to set Moore’s execution date for July 10.
ACLU Legal Director Amy Miller said, “the recently produced documents about training gives no adequate assurance that we would be looking at a smooth, well-conducted execution.”
At least 39 executions by lethal injection have been botched, with the latest in Alabama this February, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Many botched executions are the indirect result of inadequate training or personnel without adequate experience, Miller said.
Nebraska hasn’t executed an inmate since 1997, when the state’s method was the electric chair. It has since adopted lethal injection protocol that has been fraught with controversy, legal challenges and difficulty in obtaining some of the drugs used to carry out the execution.
Peterson said last week that four of the drugs set to be used in Moore’s execution will expire by the end of August.
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com
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