“That’s what the pentobarbital will do to him. “Basically, he will be waterboarded to death, he will be drowned,” Shawn Nolan, one of Higgs’ attorneys, said in a phone call on Tuesday. Johnson and Higgs began experiencing COVID-19 symptoms in mid-December and tested positive for the virus days later. Lawyers for both Johnson and Higgs say their clients have coronavirus-related lung damage, which may make them more likely to experience the effects of pulmonary edema during execution. As an alternative, the men have asked either to be given a pre-execution dose of an opioid or other suitable analgesic, which can block the pain, or to be killed by firing squad.

District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C., to delay the executions until their clients have fully recovered from COVID-19. In a teleconference hearing on Tuesday, lawyers for the two men asked U.S. Several medical experts now warn that this condition is likely to be more painful for individuals recovering from COVID-19 because the coronavirus causes damage to the lungs. This can induce a painful sensation similar to suffocating or drowning.

21, 2020) that the drug often causes a condition called pulmonary edema, where fluid enters the lungs while the person is still conscious. Johnson and Higgs argue that the government’s lethal injection protocol, which uses the drug pentobarbital, would constitute cruel and unusual punishment given the current state of their health.Īutopsy reports on people who have been executed with a lethal injection of pentobarbital show (see HoC Sept.

Corey Johnson and Dustin Higgs Say Having COVID-19 Will Increase Their Suffering During Federal Execution.Ĭorey Johnson and Dustin Higgs, who are scheduled to be killed next week, are asking for their executions to be delayed because of their recent COVID-19 diagnoses.

Dustin higgs execution