Oklahoma will resume executions after 3-year hold — with nitrogen gas

Nitrogen gas.
(Image credit: JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/AFP/Getty Images)

Oklahoma is set to become the first state in the country to use nitrogen gas to carry out the death penalty, The Oklahoman reports. Executions in the state have been on hold since 2015 due to a series of problems with lethal injection drugs, including a particularly disturbing 2014 case in which an inmate "began to twitch and gasp" after the drug was administered, ultimately dying from a heart attack.

In 2015, Oklahoma passed a law allowing nitrogen to be used in executions if the lethal injection was ever ruled unconstitutional, or if the drugs became unavailable. In 2016, the state's grand jury recommended such a step be taken, as Oklahoma has had difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs. "I was calling all around the world, to the back streets of the Indian sub-continent," Oklahoma Corrections Department Director Joe Allbaugh claimed to The Associated Press.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.