Opinion of the Court in Glossip v. Gross
Lethal Injection Using Midazolam Is Constitutional
The prisoners failed to identify a known and available alternative method of execution that entails a lesser risk of pain, a requirement of all Eighth Amendment method-of-execution claims. The district court did not commit clear error when it found that the prisoners failed to establish that Oklahoma’s use of a massive dose of midazolam in its execution protocol entails a substantial risk of severe pain. The Death Penalty in Oklahoma Oklahoma adopted lethal injection in 1977, and it eventually settled on a protocol that called for the use of three drugs: 1) sodium thiopental, “a fast-acting barbiturate sedative that induces…
