I have overseen 28 executions. The trauma experienced by everyone involved in the process continues to have an enduring impact. I am concerned about the experimental approach the state of Utah is taking to resume executions after its 14-year hiatus.

Utah is preparing to carry out its first execution in more than a decade using an untested lethal drug combination that will be administered in a process that is shrouded in secrecy. We need only to look at recent experiences in other states to see that this is a recipe for disaster. Untested execution protocols and secrecy have led to numerous botched and even failed executions that have been riddled with errors and unnecessary complications. These errors have caused enormous stress and needless trauma to victims’ families, corrections personnel and the person scheduled for execution.

The state’s drug combination — ketamine, fentanyl and potassium chloride — has never been used before in an execution and never been vetted by a court. Ketamine has never been used in an execution at all and has never been administered in the high doses that the State of Utah plans to use. In 2023, the state passed legislation to prevent the public and the media from learning critical details about the execution process. The language of Senate Bill 109 says the legislation specifically ”prohibits the disclosure of information and records related to an execution.” That secrecy is not only bad government, it is bad for corrections staff. Experimental protocols not fully vetted in public put undue pressure on the people asked to carry out those untested experiments. The surrounding secrecy denies us the chance to ensure dignity and clarity in our actions and to minimize the long-term impact they will have. It is unfair to put corrections staff in this position.

Moreover, corrections officials in at least six other states have experienced execution failures under their secret processes. In February of this year, Idaho attempted to carry out its first execution in more than a decade. The process was shielded from public view by secrecy laws similar to Utah’s and resulted in a failed execution. State officials tried and failed 10 times to establish intravenous execution lines in the individual’s legs and arms, and they ultimately had to call off the execution.

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Justin Jones is a former director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections

Originally published by the Deseret News in Salt Lake City on July 17, 2024.
https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2024/07/17/untested-execution-procedures-lethal-injection-utah-death-penalty/