Nevada tells US judge execution delay risks drugs expiring

By KEN RITTER
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A state attorney asked a federal judge for a quick hearing and ruling about the constitutionality of Nevada’s execution procedure, saying a drug that officials want to use for condemned killer Zane Floyd’s lethal injection will expire in late February. But U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware II did not promise Friday to accelerate the pace. He plans at least three days of hearings this month and possibly more next month amid challenges by Floyd’s attorneys of the method, the personnel and the drugs that would be used to kill him. Floyd is fighting on several fronts to avoid being the first inmate executed in Nevada in 15 years.