Three inmates launched a lawsuit over the use of a lethal injection drug, midazolam, which doesn't render render someone unconscious as quickly.Darrin Klimek/Getty Images
Mississippi could be able to resume executions early next month after an appeals court denied to rehear a case challenging a drug the state plans to use in lethal injections.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday denied the motion by Ricky Chase, Richard Jordan and Thomas Loden Jr. to have the entire court reconsider a February ruling by a three-judge appeals panel. Mr. Jordan and Mr. Loden have exhausted their appeals, meaning attorney-general Jim Hood could ask the state Supreme Court to set execution dates.
The lawsuit is one of a series of continuing legal skirmishes nationwide over lethal injection drugs.
Mr. Hood's office didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Jim Craig, a lawyer for Mr. Chase and Mr. Jordan, said it would be Mr. Hood's "usual practice" to immediately seek an execution date. However, he noted that the court hadn't acted on a request for an execution date for Mr. Jordan for nearly a month when the federal suit was filed.
The judgment will be published July 5, dissolving a freeze on executions by U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate. The three-judge panel overruled Mr. Wingate in February, saying questions about whether Mississippi is using drugs that don't meet state legal requirements belong in state court.
"Plaintiffs face a challenge here," Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod wrote in a revised opinion released Monday. "Mississippi's sovereign immunity prevents a federal court from issuing an injunction against state officials solely to require them to adhere to state law."
Mississippi law requires a three-drug process, with an "ultra-short-acting barbiturate" followed by a paralyzing agent and a drug that stops an inmate's heart. But Mississippi and other states have increasing struggled to obtain such drugs since 2010, as manufacturers refuse to sell them for executions.
Now, Mississippi says it intends to use another sedative, midazolam, which doesn't render someone unconscious as quickly. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 upheld as constitutional Oklahoma's use of midazolam.
Mr. Craig said he'll seek a fresh block on executions.