Complaint targets Ga. execution doc

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A civil rights group filed a complaint Monday asking Georgia's medical board to revoke the license of a physician who participates in lethal injections in an attempt to halt an execution scheduled this week, claiming he illegally imported a drug and sold it to prison officials in Tennessee and Kentucky.
By Greg Bluestein
June 20, 2011

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/na...nalty.html

ATLANTA —

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The filing by the Southern Center for Human Rights asks Georgia's Composite Medical Board to revoke the license of Dr. Carlo Musso over his role in importing sodium thiopental, a sedative used in the three-drug lethal injection combination that was in scarce supply. Musso has participated in several executions in Georgia, and the complaint comes as the state prepares to execute an inmate on Thursday using a substitute drug for the first time.

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"This is a complaint about the law and whether the person importing and distributing the drug is properly licensed," said Jessica Oats, a staff attorney with the center. "Dr. Musso was not. Georgia's Medical Board should revoke Dr. Musso's license to practice medicine. At the very least, it should suspend his license pending a full investigation."

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"Just as the DEA seized the drugs purchased by the Georgia DOC, so did the DEA follow Dr. Musso's unregistered sales of the illegally obtained sodium thiopental and seize the drugs purchased by Kentucky and Tennessee," the filing said.

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State and federal law requires any person or organization who distributes a controlled substance, such as sodium thiopental, to first register with the Georgia Board of Pharmacy and then the DEA, the complaint said. Not doing so, it said, is a "serious felony" that could result in prison time.

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June 21, 2011

http://www.ajc.com/news/fulton-judge-hal...83407.html

A Fulton County judge has temporarily halted the execution of an inmate while she considers his challenge to Georgia's recent switch to a new legal injection drug.

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Superior Court Judge Wendy Shoob said Tuesday she wanted time to review the case, and that her ruling could come within days.

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Shoob has not issued a decision, but she expressed unease about a statement from Lundbeck, pentobarbital's Danish manufacturer, which said using the drug to carry out the death penalty "falls outside its approved indications."

Shoob also questioned whether Georgia prison officials were allowed to cut corners and raised concerns about Musso's role in the executions

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