Though the Arkansas three-drug execution procedure has passed court muster, some Arkansas legislators are apparently interested in looking into some backup killing methods in case supplies of the drugs run low.
At a meeting today, according to an AP report, a legislative committee was discouraged from moving ahead by the attorney general’s office. “Let sleeping dogs lie,” was the advice from the attorney general’s lobbyist.
Some legislators apparently are interested in looking into essentially death by suffocation — or replacing oxygen in the lungs with an inert gas.
This would require new facilities, of course. It would also require a new series of tests through the court. You don’t have to look far on the internet for commentary on this method of death. It can take a prolonged period, causing brain damage before death, and people have been known to resuscitate after losing consciousness.