For more info on any of these cases, just search Google News with the inmate's name in quotation marks, example: "John Johnson."

*Leal's execution was protested by President Obama and the U.S. State Department but went ahead anyways under orders from Governor Perry of Texas. Leal had lived illegally in the U.S. since he was a young child but was not a U.S. citizen. Since he was a Mexican national, under international law he should have been returned to Mexico which doesn't have the death penalty.

**Smith received a stay of execution. His lawyers are saying that the state of Ohio does not treat each execution in exactly the same manner which could cause an unequal and unfair type of execution. Specifically, the lawyers say Ohio does not always have the same number of doctors present to oversee the execution and does not always properly document the protocol of drugs it uses. A federal judge, U.S. District Judge Frost, has now halted all executions in the state of Ohio until a ruling can be made, no earlier than the end of October.

***Stroman is the white supremacist who, in the days after 9/11, went into 3 convenience stores in Texas and shot the dark-skinned clerks who he thought were Muslim. One clerk, Rais Bhuiyan who is originally from Bangladesh and is Muslim, survived the gunshots and is now asking for clemency. He would like Stroman to instead spend life in prison without parole. He says this will show that Islam is a religion of peace. UPDATE: Stroman was executed.

****DeYoung's lawyers taped his execution in order to have evidence if they felt the new lethal injection protocol which uses pentobarbital is not sedating the person enough and allowing them to feel pain. The videotape will be kept private.

For more info on any of these cases, just search Google News with the inmate's name in quotation marks, example: "John Johnson."

*Bradford was executed using pentobarbital, the same drug used to euthanize pets, since sodium thiopental has become difficult to buy in the U.S. and abroad.

**Hawkins was granted clemency by the governor of Ohio due to conflicting witness statements and lack of concrete evidence linking him to the murder of 2 teenagers over a drug deal gone wrong. He will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.

***Blankenship's execution was done with pentobarbital only. Witnesses, including Harvard doctor Dr. David Waisel, say the drug did not anesthetize him the way it should have. He was seen jerking his head towards his arms with the IVs, lunging forward against the restraints, and mumbling words which could not be understood. This went on for 3 minutes. Unlike most executions, his eyes remained open, even in death.

For more info on any of these cases, just search Google News with the inmate's name in quotation marks, example: "John Johnson."

States planning executions have had a hard time finding sodium thiopental for many months now. The drug is no longer made in the U.S. It was a popular anesthesia drug used during surgeries but has been replaced with newer, faster-acting drugs like propofol (made famous due to Michael Jackson's death). The drug manufacturer Hospira stopped making sodium thiopental in the U.S. in 2009 since its no longer a popular hospital drug and not a good money-maker for them. However, Hospira had planned to still make some of the drug in its manufacturing plant in Italy but the Italians are against the death penalty and voted in Parliament to block its export to the U.S., knowing it would be used in executions. Another drug manufacturer Sandoz, which is part of the global company Novartis, last month ordered its distributors to stop selling the drug to customers who are re-selling their supplies to the U.S. for use in executions, which the European Union bans.

In February, 6 death row inmates filed a lawsuit against the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), which is in charge of overseeing imported drugs, because the FDA now slaps a label on imported sodium thiopental saying it has not "reviewed the products in this shipment to determine their identity, safety, effectiveness, or purity." Since its the job of the FDA to monitor all imported drugs in order to protect U.S. citizens from dangerous or ineffective drugs, the case could be made that the FDA is being negligent in its duties.

Recently, the only U.S. supplier of pentobarbital, a Danish company called Lundbeck, asked the states of Oklahoma and Ohio to stop using its drug in executions as they are opposed to the death penalty (as are most Europeans). Ohio has said it will keep using the drug in its lethal injections anyways.

Some states are now planning to use pentobarbital, the same drug used to euthanize pets, since sodium thiopental has become difficult to buy in the U.S. and abroad. In fact, last month 13 states asked the federal government (Justice Department) for help getting sodium thiopental. Ohio used 1 large dose of pentobarbital to execute Johnnie Baston in March, and Oklahoma, Texas and South Carolina have used pentobarbital in the place of the hard-to-find sodium thiopental in the 3-drug protocol.

For more info on any of these cases, just search Google News with the inmate's name in quotation marks, example: "John Johnson."

States planning executions have had a hard time finding sodium thiopental for many months now. The drug is no longer made in the U.S. It was a popular anesthesia drug used during surgeries but has been replaced with newer, faster-acting drugs like propofol (made famous due to Michael Jackson's death). The drug manufacturer Hospira stopped making sodium thiopental in the U.S. in 2009 since its no longer a popular hospital drug and not a good money-maker for them. However, Hospira had planned to still make some of the drug in its manufacturing plant in Italy but the Italians are against the death penalty and voted in Parliament to block its export to the U.S., knowing it would be used in executions. Another drug manufacturer Sandoz, which is part of the global company Novartis, last month ordered its distributors to stop selling the drug to customers who are re-selling their supplies to the U.S. for use in executions, which the European Union bans.

In February, 6 death row inmates filed a lawsuit against the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), which is in charge of overseeing imported drugs, because the FDA now slaps a label on imported sodium thiopental saying it has not "reviewed the products in this shipment to determine their identity, safety, effectiveness, or purity." Since its the job of the FDA to monitor all imported drugs in order to protect U.S. citizens from dangerous or ineffective drugs, the case could be made that the FDA is being negligent in its duties.

Recently, the only U.S. supplier of pentobarbital, a Danish company called Lundbeck, asked the states of Oklahoma and Ohio to stop using its drug in executions as they are opposed to the death penalty (as are most Europeans). Ohio has said it will keep using the drug in its lethal injections anyways.

Some states are now planning to use pentobarbital, the same drug used to euthanize pets, since sodium thiopental has become difficult to buy in the U.S. and abroad. In fact, last month 13 states asked the federal government (Justice Department) for help getting sodium thiopental. Ohio used 1 large dose of pentobarbital to execute Johnnie Baston in March, and Oklahoma has used pentobarbital in the place of the hard-to-find sodium thiopental in its 3-drug protocol.

For more info on any of these cases, just search Google News with the inmate's name in quotation marks, example: "John Johnson."

*The state of Ohio used its last remaining dose of the drug sodium thiopental (part of the 3-drug protocol used by most states in their lethal injections) to execute Frank Spisak in February. The state is now planning to use pentobarbital, the same drug used to euthanize pets, since sodium thiopental has become difficult to buy in the U.S. and abroad. In fact, last month 13 states asked the federal government (Justice Department) for help getting sodium thiopental. Ohio is planning on using 1 large dose of pentobarbital to cause death, while Oklahoma has already used pentobarbital in the place of the hard-to-find sodium thiopental in its 3-drug protocol. UPDATE: Ohio did in fact use one large dose of pentobarbital to execute Johnnie Baston.

States planning executions have had a hard time finding sodium thiopental for many months now. The drug is no longer made in the U.S. It was a popular anesthesia drug used during surgeries but has been replaced with newer, faster-acting drugs like propofol (made famous due to Michael Jackson's death). The drug manufacturer Hospira stopped making sodium thiopental in the U.S. in 2009 since its no longer a popular hospital drug and not a good money-maker for them. However, Hospira had planned to still make some of the drug in its manufacturing plant in Italy but the Italians are against the death penalty and voted in Parliament to block its export to the U.S., knowing it would be used in executions. Another drug manufacturer Sandoz, which is part of the global company Novartis, last month ordered its distributors to stop selling the drug to customers who are re-selling their supplies to the U.S. for use in executions, which the European Union bans.

In February, 6 death row inmates filed a lawsuit against the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), which is in charge of overseeing imported drugs, because the FDA now slaps a label on imported sodium thiopental saying it has not "reviewed the products in this shipment to determine their identity, safety, effectiveness, or purity." Since its the job of the FDA to monitor all imported drugs in order to protect U.S. citizens from dangerous or ineffective drugs, the case could be made that the FDA is being negligent in its duties.

Recently, the only U.S. supplier of pentobarbital, a Danish company called Lundbeck, asked the states of Oklahoma and Ohio to stop using its drug in executions as they are opposed to the death penalty (as are most Europeans). Ohio has said it will keep using the drug in its lethal injections anyways.

For more info on any of these cases, just search Google News with the inmate's name in quotation marks, example: "John Johnson."

*Blankenship received a stay of execution to allow the state to discuss the testing of DNA evidence that could prove another person was also present at the crime scene and could be the murderer. Crime scene evidence includes fingerprints and footprints which match Blankenship but also blood evidence from underneath the victim's fingernails (believed to be scratched off her attacker) that do not match his blood type (nor hers).

For more info on any of these cases, just search Google News with the inmate's name in quotation marks, example: "John Johnson."

*Clay had his sentenced commuted by the governor of Missouri. He will now serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.

For more info on any of these cases, just search Google News with the inmate's name in quotation marks, example: "John Johnson."