Nebraska executes 1st inmate using fentanyl
4-drug combination had never been tried before.
Carey Dean Moore, sentenced to death for killing two cab drivers in 1979, becomes Nebraska’s first prisoner executed since 1997.
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 powerful 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 cab drivers 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 that there appeared to be no complications in the execution process, which also was 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.”
In his final written statement, Moore admitted: “I am guilty.” But he said there are others on Nebraska’s death row who he believes are innocent and he said they should be released.
“How might you feel if your loved one was innocent and on death row?” Moore asked.
Moore’s execution comes a little more than three years after Nebraska lawmakers abolished the death penalty, only to have it reinstated the following year through a citizen ballot drive partially financed by Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts. The governor, a wealthy former businessman, has said he was fulfilling the wishes of voters in the conservative state.
The Nebraska protocol called for an initial IV dose of diazepam, commonly known as Valium, to render the inmate unconscious, followed by synthetic opioid fentanyl, then cisatracurium besylate to induce paralysis and stop the inmate from breathing and potassium chloride to stop the heart. After each injection, officials sent saline through the IV to flush out any residue and ensure all the drugs had entered the inmate’s system.
Diazepam and cisatracurium also had never been used in executions before.
According to prosecutors, Moore was 21 when he fatally shot Reuel Van Ness during a robbery with his younger brother, and used the money to buy drugs and pornography. Moore fatally shot Maynard Helgeland by himself five days later, saying he wanted to prove he could take a man’s life by himself. Moore was arrested a week later. He was charged and convicted of first-degree murder, while his 14-yearold brother was convicted of second-degree murder.
In his statement, Moore also apologized to his brother, who was with him during the 1979 robbery and murder of Van Ness.
“I should (have) led him in the right way to go instead of bringing him down, way down,” Moore said of his brother.
Moore had faced execution dates set by the Nebraska Supreme Court seven times since he was convicted, but each was delayed because of legal challenges and questions over whether previous lethal injection drugs were purchased legally.