Nebraska could become 1st state to use fentanyl in an execution

Nebraska is expected to execute its first death row inmate in 21 years on Tuesday, using fentanyl.

This would be the first time a state has ever used the powerful opioid in an execution. Nebraska wants to use fentanyl along with Valium and other drugs to put to death Carey Dean Moore, who was sentenced to death for the 1979 murders of two cab drivers in Omaha. On Monday, a federal appeals court rejected an attempt by the German pharmaceutical company Fresenius Kabi to stop the execution; Fresenius Kabi said two of its drugs, a muscle relaxant and potassium chloride, would be used in the lethal cocktail, but claimed Nebraska obtained the drugs illegally, The Guardian reports.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.