Death penalty in the United States: Texas accused of using expired substances

In detail, their lawyers accused Texas of using products “long expired” Who “could act unexpectedly, clog intravenous infusions during performance, and cause unnecessary suffering”according to the information in the court file.

Faced with the blocking of pharmaceutical laboratories, Texas has been buying for nearly ten years a preparation of pentobarbital that a few state pharmacies manufacture, anonymously for fear of reprisals, with a powder ingredient, according to lawyers for MM. Ruiz and Ballentine. When frozen, a sterile medicated preparation like this has a shelf life of 45 days, according to pharmacy expert Michaela Almgren, cited in the two convicts’ petition. However, according to the data consulted by the latter, the last purchase of pentobarbital by the Texas authorities was made in March 2021. In other words, any of these doses expired more than 600 days ago, while another batch from 2019 is even more than 1300 days out of date. Yet these preparations have been given new expiration dates in September and November 2023, the court document alleges.