BOISE -- Idaho's corrections chief says the agency is switching to a one-drug lethal injection for the execution next month of convicted murderer Richard Leavitt.
Idaho Department of Corrections Director Brent Reinke said Friday execution teams will administer a single, lethal dose of the surgical sedative pentobarbital during Leavitt's scheduled execution on June 12.
That's a change from the execution carried out by the agency last fall, when a three-drug mixture that included pentobarbital was used.
Reinke says the change was driven by difficulties in obtaining the other two chemicals used to kill Paul Ezra Rhoades in November.
The decision makes Idaho the latest death penalty state to switch to using only pentobarbital in its lethal injection.
Reinke says the state's protocol still allows for using the three-drug mixture in future executions.
