Nevadans Demand Answers on Experimental Execution Plan

LAS VEGAS— With Nevada’s plans for its first execution in a decade shrouded in secrecy, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada is demanding the state disclose its plans for the execution of death row inmate Scott Dozier.

Mr. Dozier’s legal team will appear in court Thursday morning. He is scheduled to be lethally injected by an experimental and controversial three-drug procedure on November 14, 2017.

On Friday, August 18, the ACLU of Nevada filed a public records request with the Department of Corrections. The Department responded Tuesday to say it would take 60 days to process the request.

“It is unfortunate the state has chosen to withhold critical details about how they plan to carry out Mr. Dozier’s execution. No other state has used a lethal combination like this, and it is not clear whether this experimental protocol complies with all state and federal laws. That is way out of step with our core values in this state, and Nevadans deserve answers on exactly how the state plans to kill a prisoner in its custody. The ACLU of Nevada has a duty to ensure the state’s plan is within the law,” Executive Director Tod Story said.

On August 17, the Department of Corrections released the names of the drugs it plans to test on Mr. Dozier—diazepam, fentanyl, and cistracirium, a paralytic drug that functions to hide any consciousness, pain and suffering that might occur during an execution. The Department has failed to provide any additional information regarding the doses or the intended sequence of administration. This combination of drugs has never been used in an execution in the United States.