With executions in Oklahoma on hold amid a constitutional review of its lethal injection formula, Republican legislators are pushing to make Oklahoma the first state in the nation to allow the use of nitrogen gas to execute death row inmates.
A bill scheduled for a hearing Wednesday in a House committee would make death by “nitrogen hypoxia” a backup method of execution if the state’s current lethal injection process is found to be unconstitutional.
“You wouldn’t need a medical doctor to do it. It’s a lot more practical. It’s efficient,” said Rep. Mike Christian, an Oklahoma City Republican and former Oklahoma Highway patrolman who conducted a hearing last summer on hypoxia, or the depletion of oxygen in the bloodstream.
–
___
Follow Sean Murphy at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy
