Oklahoma will become the first state in the nation to allow the use of nitrogen gas to execute inmates under a bill heading to the governor's desk.
Without a single dissenting vote, the Oklahoma Senate gave final approval Thursday to the bill allowing the new method to be used if lethal injection is ruled unconstitutional or if the deadly drugs become unavailable.
Executions are on hold in Oklahoma while the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether the state's current three-drug method of lethal injection is constitutional. Oklahoma and other states have scrambled to find new drugs after manufacturers of more effective drugs stopped selling them to states for executions.
"With the current method of executions under attack and judicial scrutiny, it is imperative that we find an alternate way of delivering justice,” said Rep. Mike Christian, R-Oklahoma City. “Through an in depth interim study, we have found that death by nitrogen hypoxia is the easiest, most humane, and cost effective way of carrying out the death penalty."
