On Friday evening, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights sent precautionary measures to the federal government and the Missouri government, asking that the June 18 execution of John Winfield be halted pending an investigation by the Commission into the secrecy surrounding the source and quality of the lethal injection drugs to be used in Mr. Winfield's execution and the potential for extreme suffering in their administration. If Mr. Winfield's execution goes forward, it will most certainly violate international law against torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
The Commission's precautionary measures were prompted by a petition from the ACLU. The petition provides a concise summary of how compounded pentobarbitol, which is to be used on Mr. Winfield, has caused cruel and unusual effects in other prisoners executed in this country, including the horrific execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma. The petition also explains how the Missouri state government has concealed the source of Missouri's pentobarbitol, the state's compounding process, and its participants.
In May, the ACLU sent a similar petition to the Commission on behalf of Russell Bucklew, who was scheduled to be executed on May 13 in Missouri, and Charles Warner, the next prisoner to be executed in Oklahoma after Mr. Lockett. On May 20, the Commission sent precautionary measures to the federal government and the governments of Missouri and Oklahoma to halt the executions. Mr. Bucklew's execution was stayed by the Supreme Court.