Mississippi court OKs challenge to questioned execution drug
JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi man sentenced to death for the murder of a community college student won consent from the state’s highest court Thursday to challenge a lethal injection drug that’s been blamed for botched executions and other problems around the country.
The Mississippi Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision , said Charles Ray Crawford can use a federal civil rights law to pursue a lawsuit in state court over the use of the sedative midazolam in executions. The challenge by the Mississippi death row inmate is just one of several in several states involving execution drugs.
During an Alabama execution last week, convicted killer Ronald Bert Smith Jr. coughed, and his upper body heaved repeatedly for 13 minutes as he was being sedated with midazolam. In Virginia, one inmate’s lawyers recently argued that even a firing squad would be more humane than the drugs selected there.
Crawford, now 50, was sentenced to death for the 1993 murder and rape of 20-year-old Kristy Ray. Crawford handcuffed the community college student and stuffed a sock in her mouth before sexually assaulting her and stabbing her to death on a country road in northeast Mississippi’s Tippah County, court records show. He claimed he didn’t remember the attack, but led authorities to the body buried in leaves.