Midazolam is not an anesthetic; it is a sedative like Xanax. It is not used in surgery as the sole drug to cause unconsciousness. Midazolam is not able to maintain the unconsciousness of a prisoner when the paralytic and potassium chloride are injected. This presents a significant risk that the condemned prisoner will be conscious during the administration of a chemical paralytic (which results in conscious inability to breathe) and the potassium chloride which, before stopping the heart, causes excruciating pain akin to having a blowtorch applied to the skin.
The risk is enhanced by Mississippi’s primitive protocol, which has failed to incorporate the safeguards implemented in other executing states (most notably Oklahoma).
We contend that Mississippi’s refusal to join the majority of executing states in abandoning the three-drug protocol in favor of a single, overwhelming dose of a barbiturate is contrary to the Eighth Amendment.