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December 14, 2022

Mississippi completes likely last execution in United States for 2022

As reported in this AP article, a "man who raped and killed a 16-year-old girl in Mississippi was put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday, becoming the second inmate executed in the state in 10 years." Here is more:

Thomas Edwin Loden Jr., 58, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. by Sunflower County Coroner Heather Burton. He’d been on death row since 2001, when he pleaded guilty to capital murder, rape and four counts of sexual battery against Leesa Marie Gray. She was stranded with a flat tire in June 2000 when Loden forced her into his van....

Earlier this month, a federal judge declined to block Loden’s execution amid a pending lawsuit by him and four other Mississippi death row inmates over the state’s use of three drugs for lethal injections, a protocol they allege is inhumane....

In November, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey sought a pause in executions and ordered a “top-to-bottom” review of the state’s capital punishment system after a series of failed lethal injections. Mississippi has done “mock executions and drills” on a monthly basis to avoid a botched execution, Jeworski Mallett, deputy commissioner of institutions for the Department of Corrections, told reporters.

The Department of Corrections revealed in court papers in July 2021 that it had acquired three drugs for its lethal injection protocol: midazolam, which is a sedative; vecuronium bromide, which paralyzes the muscles; and potassium chloride, which stops the heart. Since 2019, only Alabama, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Tennessee have used a three-drug protocol, said Jim Craig, a MacArthur Center attorney, speaking at a November court hearing.

This page at the Death Penalty Information Center reports that there are execution dates scheduled in two states tomorrow, but also that those execution are not likely to move forward. Therefore it appears that this Mississippi execution will be the last in the US this year, which means that there were a total of 18 execution in this us in 2022. That marks more executions in the US than in 2021 (11) and 2020 (17), but fewer than in every other year going back until 1991 (14).

December 14, 2022 at 10:07 PM | Permalink

Comments

Thankfully, justice is complete here. Took way too long.

Posted by: federalist | Dec 19, 2022 1:31:07 PM

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