Nebraska executes inmate using powerful opioid fentanyl

LINCOLN (AP) — 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 there appeared to be no complications in the execution process, which also was the first time a state used four drugs in combination.

Moore remained mostly still throughout the execution but breathed heavily and gradually turned red and then purple as the drugs were administered.

Media witnesses including the Associated Press saw Moore take short, gasping breaths that became deeper and more labored.

His chest heaved several times before it went still. His eyelids briefly cracked open.

The Department of Correctional Services said the first lethal injection drug was administered at 10:24 a.m.

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.

In his final written statement, Moore admitted: “I am guilty.”

The Nebraska drug protocol called for an initial IV dose of diazepam, commonly known as Valium, to render the inmate unconscious, followed by the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, then cisatracurium besylate to induce paralysis and stop the inmate from breathing and potassium chloride to stop the heart.