Neb.’s first execution in 20 years uses fentanyl

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska carried out its first execution in more than two decades on Tuesday with a drug combination never tried before, including the first use of the opioid fentanyl in a lethal injection.

Carey Dean Moore, 60, was pronounced dead at 10:47 a.m. Moore had been sentenced to death for killing two cabdrivers in Omaha in 1979. He was the first inmate to be lethally injected in Nebraska, which last carried out an execution in 1997, using the electric chair.

Witnesses said there appeared to be no complications in the execution process, which also marked the first time a state used four drugs in combination.

At one point while on the gurney, Moore turned his head and mouthed several words to his family, including “I love you.” No members of the victims’ families witnessed the execution.

The Department of Correctional Services said the first lethal injection drug was administered at 10:24 a.m. The prison warden lowered a curtain over the media’s viewing window at 10:39 a.m. and raised it again 14 minutes later.

Dawn-Renee Smith, the department’s chief of staff, said the curtain was lowered after the execution team notified Department Director Scott Frakes that the last drug had been injected. Smith said Frakes and acting Warden Robert Madsen waited in the execution room for five minutes to ensure the drugs had taken effect before summoning the county coroner to confirm Moore’s death.

The viewing curtain was lifted again briefly about six minutes later to reveal Moore’s body.

In his final written statement, Moore said: “I am guilty.” But he said there are others on death row who he believes are innocent and should be released.