Texas changes lethal-injection formula - UPI.com AUSTIN, Texas, July 11 (UPI) -- Texas officials said they were changing their lethal-injection execution protocol to a single drug. The next condemned inmate to be executed in Texas will be put to death with a single shot of pentobarbital rather than the three-drug combination that has been used since the death penalty was revived in the Lone Star State in 1982. Pentobarbital is a barbiturate often used to euthanize animals, The Texas Tribune in Austin said Wednesday. Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said the change was made because the state could no longer obtain one of the three drugs it had been using. "The agency currently has an adequate supply of pentobarbital to carry out all scheduled executions," Clark said. The Tribune said nine executions were scheduled in the state through Nov. 14. Yokamon Hearn will be the first inmate executed with straight pentobarbital if his sentence is carried out next Wednesday.