Officials in Nebraska used fentanyl to execute a felon Tuesday, the first time the drug was ever used in an execution in the U.S., reports The New York Times.
Carey Dean Moore, 60, was convicted of killing two taxi drivers in 1979, and the state went forward with the controversial decision to execute him by lethal injection at the Nebraska State Penitentiary. The Times reports that officials used a mixture of four different drugs, which had never before been tested. The mixture included a tranquilizer, a muscle relaxant, potassium chloride to stop the heart, and fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has garnered attention in the nation's rising opioid epidemic.
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Reporters who were in the room said the execution didn't appear to have any complications, with Moore mouthing "I love you" to his chosen witnesses, then breathing heavily and coughing before his death. It was the first execution in Nebraska since 1997, when state officials used an electric chair to carry out the death penalty. Read more at The New York Times.
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