Missouri moving ahead with planned execution of Michael Worthington

Despite three botched executions already this year, with one coming less than a month ago, Missouri officials announced they would be moving ahead with the scheduled lethal injection execution on Wednesday of death row inmate Michael Worthington.

The state said they don't see a problem going ahead with this execution because they will use pentobarbital rather than the two-drug cocktail responsible for the three botched executions, Reuters reports. Also, the Missouri Attorney General's Office says they are confident their execution process is sound and will be properly carried out.

Worthington, who was found guilty of the rape and murder of a St. Louis woman in 1995, and his defense team have been trying to get a stay on the execution until more light is shed on both the botched Arizona execution and Missouri's lethal drugs.

"It seems like it would be a reasonable request," lawyer Kent Gibson said. "The Arizona case ... fives us some additional ammunition."

States have been fighting every request for transparency over the executioners and drug companies providing the drugs.

The American Civil Liberties Union has been calling for all planned executions nationwide be halted until states are willing to be more open about their process. "Every state contemplating a future execution by lethal injection ought to be scrutinizing their process."

On July 23, despite calls for less secrecy on the drugs and the company providing them, Arizona went ahead with the execution of Joseph Wood. In an entirely predictable outcome, the two-drug combination failed, again, and the inmate was left "gasping and snorting" for nearly 90 minutes.

Wood had tried to get a stay on his execution over the drug combination of midazolam and hydromorphone and also wanted to know the drug company providing the drug.

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