The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a stay of execution for three Oklahoma inmates.
USA Today noted that on Wednesday, the highest court blocked the state’s next three scheduled executions while it reviews the use of the drugs for lethal injections.
"It is hereby ordered that petitioners' executions using midazolam are stayed pending final disposition of this case," the court said.
The order means that convicted murderers Richard Glossip, John Grant and Benjamin Cole will not be put to death with the lethal cocktail currently used. That is, at least until the court decides if it violates a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
As previously reported, just two weeks ago Oklahoma began carrying out lethal injections again, several months after the highly-publicized botched execution of Clayton Lockett.
Charles Warner was executed on Jan. 15. The court declined at the time to halt his execution. He was originally scheduled to be put to death in April, the same evening as Lockett, but the procedure was postponed due to the problems officials had with the first execution.