LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Latest on court arguments about the drugs that would be used for Nevada to execute its first death-row inmate in 12 years (all times local):
5:30 p.m.
The Nevada Supreme Court is scheduling fast-track oral arguments about the stalled execution of a death-row inmate whose lethal injection is being challenged by pharmaceutical companies that don’t want their drugs used.
Three justices on Thursday also granted drug company Sandoz Inc. entry to the case as a “friend of the court” participant at the Sept. 12 hearing.
The court panel lifted a temporary hold on legal proceedings in state court in Las Vegas about the twice-postponed execution of Scott Raymond Dozier.
But it was not immediately clear if lower court hearings would be held before the Supreme Court hears from drug companies Alvogen, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Sandoz.
The makers of a sedative, the powerful opioid fentanyl (FEN’-tah-nil) and a muscle paralytic drug accuse the state of improperly obtaining their products.
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10:20 a.m.
Nevada prison officials are telling the state Supreme Court that witnesses reported no complications following Nebraska’s execution this week using some of the same drugs Nevada wants to use in a twice-postponed lethal injection.
Nevada state attorneys argue in a Wednesday court filing that Nebraska’s four-drug combination included a sedative, the synthetic opioid fentanyl and a paralytic agent like Nevada plans to use.
Nebraska also used a heart-stopping drug, potassium chloride, in Tuesday’s execution of condemned killer Carey Dean Moore.
Witnesses said Moore breathed heavily, turned red and then purple as the drugs were administered.
Two pharmaceutical companies want the Nevada high court to let a lower-court judge decide if the companies can block use of their products in an execution.
The state wants justices to decide a fast-track appeal.
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