OK Pharmacy Denies Execution Drugs

Michael Taylor’s lawyers may have found one interesting way around his death sentence. They have filed a case against the Apothecary Shoppe in Tulsa, which agreed not to provide or produce pentobarbital for Missouri’s execution of Taylor, who was convicted of raping and a killing a 15-year-old girl. In the lawsuit, Taylor claimed the state asked the Apothecary Shoppe to provide the drug, as the only national manufacturer refused to supply it for lethal injections. Taylor's lawyers argued that the recent executions using compounds of pentobarbital were causing “severe, unnecessary, lingering and ultimately inhumane pain.” The suit questions whether the Apothecary Shoppe can legally produce and deliver pentobarbital, as it is not registered as a drug manufacturer with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Missouri has said the execution will proceed.