Questions about Nebraska execution drugs may go unanswered

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska’s corrections director won’t have to testify before lawmakers about the state’s lethal injection protocol or how prison officials obtained the drugs used in an execution last year.

The Nebraska Supreme Court sided Friday with the state corrections department, which sought to block a subpoena from the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee that would have required corrections director Scott Frakes to answer questions about his department’s lethal injection practices.

The Judiciary Committee ordered Frakes to appear at a public hearing last year, months before Nebraska executed its first inmate by lethal injection. Committee members issued the subpoena in response to a complaint from state Sen. Ernie Chambers, a death penalty opponent who wanted to question Frakes under oath.

The court declared the issue moot because the committee’s membership has since changed.

The Associated Press