LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – A death penalty expert says Arkansas’ recent purchase of a lethal injection drug – in a small amount and at a cheap price – suggests the state has found a reliable supplier to help it move 30 inmates from death row to the execution chamber.
The state Department of Correction said Thursday it had paid $250 in cash to buy enough midazolam for use in two executions. A heavily redacted hand-written receipt shows the material was picked up in person on Aug. 4.
“The $250 would lead me to believe they aren’t buying from someone trying to benefit from a shortage,” said Jen Moreno, a staff attorney with the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California Law School at Berkeley.
With such a relatively small amount purchased – 40 vials – “maybe they have found a source,” she said.
Arkansas purchased midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride in bulk in 2015, spending $24,226 to buy enough of the chemicals to put eight inmates to death. The approaching expiration of its midazolam supply this spring led Gov. Asa Hutchinson to schedule eight executions in an 11-day period in April.