Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has requested a pause in executions and ordered a "top-to-bottom review" of the state's execution protocol, after the third lethal-injection-attempt failure in four years.
"For the sake of the victims and their families, we've got to get this right," the Republican Ivey said in a statement. "I simply cannot, in good conscience, bring another victim's family to Holman looking for justice and closure, until I am confident that we can carry out the legal sentence."
The state’s lethal injection center is at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala.
Ivey's order comes after state officials could not find a suitable vein on Kenneth Eugene Smith to inject the fatal drugs last Thursday, forcing them to cancel the execution.
The cancellation marked the second time in two months — and the third occasion since 2018 — the state failed to carry out an execution, according to The Hill.
State officials also delayed an execution for three hours earlier this year, due to complications.
Ivey said she is working with Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm to "ensure the state can successfully deliver justice going forward."
"Everything is on the table," Hamm said in a statement. "From our legal strategy in dealing with last-minute appeals, to how we train and prepare, to the order and timing of events on execution day, to the personnel and equipment involved."
The Cotton State governor also requested that state Attorney General Steve Marshall hold off on seeking any new execution dates for inmates on death row, until after the review has been completed.
According to The Hill, only two death row inmates in the state have pending execution dates.
Ivey said she does not pinpoint the blame on the Department of Corrections for the recent problems with lethal injections.
"I believe that legal tactics and criminals hijacking the system are at play here," said Ivey.
Robert Dunham, executive director of The Death Penalty Information Center, recommended the investigation be conducted by an independent third party.
"The Alabama Department of Corrections has a history of denying and bending the truth about its execution failures, and it cannot be trusted to meaningfully investigate its own incompetence and wrongdoing," Dunham said in a statement.
Hamm said his agency is "fully committed to this effort and confident that we can get this done right."
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