BOISE -- In response to challenges faced in Idaho's last execution, there are some new procedures in place should another Idahoan be issued a death warrant.
Evaluating the Rhoades execution
The changes follow the November execution of Paul Ezra Rhoades, which was the state's first in 17 years. There are only a handful of changes in this new procedure. For example, the warden's duties leading up to an execution are now spread among three administrators and the director may decide to allow more people to witness the execution. Most notably, there are changes that could mean a different method of lethal injection is used.
Following the November execution, the Department of Correction took a look at its procedure, a standard practice following an execution. In general, more than two months out, the director is still pleased with how the procedure was carried out.
"The concern that we had going into this was the professionalism, the respect and the dignity that the governor laid out for us," said IDOC Director Brent Reinke. "And the success in that, if I can use that term, is that the Idaho Department of Correction was not the story on the 19th, the day after the execution."
Making changes to the plan
Though the execution Standard Operating Procedure, or SOP, was considered successful, the DOC has made changes with the help of attorneys and people from the execution team.
"I wouldn't say they [the procedures] were necessarily incorrect or wrong, but it was a challenge for us," Reinke said.
The subsequent changes are mostly to staffing, such as dividing up the warden's duties and combining the roles of medical and injection teams. Media witnesses will also be chosen a week prior to an execution, rather than the day of.
One-drug protocol now an option
The new procedure also addresses a sometimes controversial point in lethal injections: the three-drug protocol that was used in Rhoades' execution. Now, there are other methods available.
"We've gone from two options to four options," Reinke said. "There's two three-drug options and two single-drug options. We've taken a look at some of our sister states and a number of states have gone to a single-drug option because of availability."
The three-drug protocol involves an anesthetic, a paralytic and a drug that causes cardiac arrest. The single-drug protocol only involves the use of an anesthetic, which in a high dose will cause death.
Prior challenges to three-drug protocol not a consideration
The week before his execution, Rhoades' attorneys challenged Idaho's three-drug protocol. They said if carried out incorrectly, it could cause a condemned inmate cruel and unusual punishment. A federal judge ruled against that argument.
The director reiterated that adding the option of a single-drug protocol is not at all about any controversy; it is only about a nationwide difficulty in prisons securing lethal injection chemicals.
The IDOC Director would be in charge of determining which drug method of the four available would be used for an execution.
"That decision would be made from an availability standpoint and with my immediate leadership team," Reinke said.
No speculation on next execution date
The director declined to speculate on when the next death warrant may be issued or who is the next inmate likely to exhaust appeals and be executed. He would only say they revised the procedure with the thought that there will be more forthcoming.
The Department of Correction would review, and if necessary, revise the execution procedure after each execution. If there is not an execution, the next time it's up for review is January 2014.
