Florida Execution Planned With Untried Drug

Florida will execute a man with a drug that has never been used before in lethal injections, amid concerns it could inflict cruel and unusual pain.

The planned use of the drug midazolam hydrochloride is raising ethical and legal questions by experts across the nation.

"This is somewhat of an experiment on a living human being," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.

Midazolam, typically used by doctors for sedation, will be the first of three drugs pumped into William Happ on Tuesday as part of a lethal injection cocktail designed to induce unconsciousness, paralysis and death by cardiac arrest.

The first of the drugs administered as part of the lethal injection protocol in Florida has long been the barbiturate pentobarbital.

But Florida, like other death penalty states, has run out of pentobarbital since its manufacturer clamped a ban on its use in future executions.

"The three-drug process depends on the first drug rendering the inmate unconscious and, if he is only partially unconscious, the inmate could be experiencing extreme pain," said Mr Dieter.

"Because the second drug paralyses him, he would be unable to cry out or show that he's in pain."

Happ was convicted for the 1986 abduction, rape and murder of Angie Crowley, whose body was found on a canal bank near Crystal River in central Florida.

The 51-year-old has abandoned his appeals and said he is ready to die. His execution is due to take place in the afternoon at the Florida State Prison in Starke.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections said the prison system "did research and determined that this is the most humane and dignified way to do the procedure".

Last week, Missouri postponed an execution set for October 23 due to uncertainty about using a different drug, propofol, as a substitute for pentobarbital.