Doctor: Paralytic drug can mask any suffering
Witness questions need for drug in upcoming Dozier execution
A paralyzing drug could cause “cruel pain and suffering” and lead to a “horrifying experience” for a condemned inmate, an anesthesiologist testified Friday, just 11 days before convicted killer Scott Dozier is scheduled to die by lethal injection.
A mixture of two drugs in the state’s proposed three-drug cocktail would be enough to kill Dozier in less than 10 minutes, Dr. David Waisel of Boston told District Judge Jennifer Togliatti, who oversaw Dozier’s trial and signed his death warrant.
While the risk of suffering would be minimized if the drugs were administered correctly, the doctor said, Dozier’s ability to verbalize his pain would be masked by cisatracurium, a skeletal muscle relaxant or paralytic.
The state’s execution protocol also calls for an attending physician to inject the inmate with diazepam, which is normally used to treat anxiety and muscle spasms; and fentanyl, used for pain.
But that protocol was designed by a doctor who since has resigned as the state’s chief medical officer, and Assistant Solicitor General Jordan Smith told the judge he did not know who had been appointed to replace the doctor.
Dozier, on Nevada’s death row for his second killing, would be the first inmate executed in the state since 2006.
“We know that doing things infrequently increases the risk,” Waisel said. “We rarely let inexperienced
DOZIER
Nevada’s highways.”
The southbound lanes of Route
160 will be closed and traffic shifted onto the northbound lanes between Tecopa and Sandy Valley roads from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday to accommodate the speed trial.
NDOT spokesman Tony Illia said the Nevada Highway Patrol will provide traffic controls and escorts during the closure and detour. Motorists in the area should expect delays of up to 20 minutes, Illia said.
No parking, walking or bicycling will be allowed along the 11-mile stretch of road during the closed, private event.
Guinness World Records, the arbiter of such things, defines a production car as a vehicle in its original condition, with no modifications or adjustments other than those offered as factory options by the manufacturer.
There are no stipulations on how many of the cars must be produced, which is why only a handful of hyper-specialized and expensive sports cars are usually in competition for the record.
You won’t find machines like this at the auto mall or a used car lot. They are custom built for individual buyers and often sell for well over $1 million.
In 2015, Las Vegas boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. posed with his silver Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita in an Instagram post that read, “My new 4.8 Million dollar car.”
Mayweather said it was one of only two Trevitas ever built and the only one made for use in the United States.
News reports this year indicated Mayweather planned to offer the car for sale at an exclusive auto auction in Monterey, California. It’s unclear if anyone bought the boxer’s used wheels.
Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @Refriedbrean on Twitter. An 11-mile stretch of the southbound lanes of state Route 160 between Las Vegas and Pahrump will be closed Saturday and Sunday as a Swedish automaker attempts to break a speed record for production cars. From 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days, traffic will be diverted onto the northbound lanes in the closed area.