Carey Dean Moore, a 60-year-old man who has served 38 years on death from for a crime he committed in 1979, is set to be executed in Nebraska on Tuesday, Aug. 14. Moore will become the first inmate executed in the state of Nebraska in more than 20 years and the first to be put to death by a controversial drug cocktail which includes the opioid Fentanyl.
Moore has been behind bars for shooting and killing cab drivers Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland, according to the Omaha World-Herald. He committed the crime when he was just 21 years old.
Moore had been fighting the state’s efforts to execute him for years, but he decided to stop fighting and reportedly told friends he was ready to die. His execution took place Tuesday morning at approximately 10:00 a.m.
The lethal injection includes diazepam, muscle relaxant cisatracurium, potassium chloride and fentanyl. It must be administered precisely and in the correct order with the end result being to sedate Moore, paralyze him, and then ultimately stop his heart. From the Omaha World-Herald:
— 2 milligrams of diazepam (a sedative) per kilogram of body weight followed by additional doses until the inmate is unconscious. A 50 cc saline flush will follow the diazepam.
— 25 micrograms of fentanyl (a powerful opioid painkiller) per kilogram of body weight, followed by a 50 cc saline flush.
— 1.6 milligrams of cisatracurium (a paralyzing drug intended to stop the inmate’s breathing) per kilogram of body weight followed by a 50 cc saline flush.
— 240 milliequivalents of potassium chloride (a drug that causes heart attack in high doses) followed by a final saline flush.
The controversy stems from the fact that if the cocktail is not administered correctly, it could inflict great pain.
According to University of Nebraska College of Law professor and lethal injection expert Eric Berger, if the substances do not work as planned and he is not properly sedated before the potassium chloride is injected, Moore could feel like he’s being “burned alive from the inside.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska filed a motion to delay Moore’s execution, but it was unsuccessful. According to Steve White of NTV, Moore was first injected at 10:24 a.m. and pronounced dead at 10:47 a.m.
Nebraska reinstated the death penalty in 2016. The state’s last execution took place in 1997 and was by way of the electric chair.
