Image copyright AFP Image caption Carey Dean Moore was sentenced to death for two 1979 murders

Nebraska has become the first US state to use the opioid fentanyl to carry out the death penalty.

Convicted criminal Carey Dean Moore, 60, who killed two cab drivers in 1979, was executed in the state's first lethal injection and first execution in 21 years.

Amid two lawsuits from drug companies to stay the execution, Moore had told his lawyers he wanted to be executed.

Fentanyl is a powerful narcotic drug at the heart of the US opioid crisis.

According to the Omaha World-Herald newspaper, the state used an untried drug cocktail of diazepam, fentanyl, cisatracurium and potassium chloride to execute Moore.

Moore was convicted of killing cab drivers Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland in August 1979. Both men were 47-year-old Korean war veterans.

He was pronounced dead approximately 23 minutes after the drugs were administered, the Washington Post reported.

German pharmaceutical company Fresenius Kabi attempted to halt the execution with a federal lawsuit filed last week.

The suit alleged that Nebraska had not legally obtained the potassium chloride, meant to stop Moore's heart, and the cisatracurium besylate, a muscle paralytic.

State officials denied the allegations.

In a court filing viewed by the Post, the Nebraska Attorney General's office said: "The people of Nebraska have chosen by a wide margin to retain capital punishment for Moore's crimes.

"Their government is prepared to carry out Moore's sentence and possesses the constitutional, lawfully-acquired means of doing so."

A federal judge rejected Fresenius Kabi's request to block the use of its drugs, and a circuit court denied an appeal.

Another pharmaceutical company, Sandoz, requested last week that Nebraska reveal who made the drugs it would use to execute Moore.

But a judge ruled he would not decide on the case until after the execution.

Just three years ago, Nebraska had abolished the death penalty. A year later, it was restored after 60% of voters supported it.

Nebraska is not the first state to consider using fentanyl in an execution - particularly as drug companies continue to resist their products being used for death sentences.

In July, Nevada was set to use fentanyl in a lethal injection until a lawsuit stalled the execution amid claims that the state illegitimately obtained one of the drugs it planned to use.

Scott Frakes, director of Nebraska's Department of Correctional Services noted in an affidavit that lethal substances "are difficult, if nearly impossible, to obtain" in many death penalty states.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "My child died from it": One mum on the prescription painkiller being taken to get a high

But so far, the legal questions have not involved fentanyl, the opioid at the centre of America's opioid epidemic.

In the US, it is approved as an anaesthetic and for pain relief, but because of its high profit margin for traffickers, it has become a large part of the US opioid crisis.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported that between 2015 and 2016, the rate of drug overdose deaths in the US involving synthetic opioids such as fentanyl had doubled.

"There's no particular reason why one would use fentanyl," said Robert Dunham, executive director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.

"No one has used it before, and we've had hundreds and hundreds of executions by injection. That suggests that the state is using fentanyl because it can get its hands on it," he told the Washington Post.

According to the Omaha World-Herald, Nebraska has 11 remaining prisoners on death row.

Before Moore, Nebraska's last execution was in 1997, using the electric chair.</s>Nebraska executed Carey Dean Moore on Tuesday morning in the state’s first death by lethal injection.

Moore, 60, had served 38 years on death row for shooting and killing cab drivers Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland in the summer of 1979, according to the Omaha World-Herald. He had said he was ready to die.

“We could see him mouthing some words toward his witnesses, it was clear he said I love you several times," witness Brent Martin of Nebraska Radio Network said at a news conference after the death, KLKN-TV in Lincoln, Nebraska, reports.

The fatal drug cocktail used for Moore’s execution had never been used to put a person to death, the Lincoln Journal Star reports. The concoction included sedative diazepam, muscle relaxant cisatracurium, potassium chloride and fentanyl.

Fentanyl is an opioid painkiller that is 30 times more potent than heroin and at least 80 times stronger than morphine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Nearly 30,000 overdose deaths were linked to fentanyl in 2017, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data cited by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

More: Near a Nebraska town, cops seize enough opioids to kill over 26 million

The drug mixture is controversial, because if the substances did not work as planned, Moore could have suffered extreme pain. Friday, a lawyer for the drug company behind the paralyzing drug said it might not be effective if it wasn’t stored at the proper temperature, the World-Herald reports.

Witnesses reported no complications, only some coughing before Moore stopped moving. Moore died at 10:47 a.m. CT surrounded by three people, a clergy member and four media member witnesses, according to KLKN.

Moore released a "last statement," where he apologized to his brother, Donald, who was with him during his first murder.

"I am terribly sorry," Moore wrote. "Please forgive me, Don, somehow."

Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska filed a motion to delay Moore’s execution on behalf of eight death row inmates, KETV-TV, in Omaha, Nebraska, reports. After the execution, ACLU of Nebraska Executive Director Danielle Conrad condemned the decision.

"This execution of Carey Dean Moore does not comport with Nebraska’s proud tradition of open government," Conrad said in a statement Tuesday. "Today stands as the most recent dark chapter in Nebraska's troubled history with the death penalty."

In 2016, Nebraska reinstated the death penalty. Before Moore, the state had executed 37 people, the last being killed by an electric chair.

More: As I watched Billy Ray Irick executed, I could feel the heartbeat of another mom</s>Nebraska plans to execute Carey Dean Moore on Tuesday in the state’s first death by lethal injection.

Moore, 60, has served 38 years on death row for shooting and killing cab drivers Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland in the summer of 1979, according to the Omaha World-Herald. He has said he is ready to die.

The fatal drug cocktail that will be used for Moore’s execution has never been used to put a person to death, the Lincoln Journal Star reports. The concoction includes sedative diazepam, muscle relaxant cisatracurium, potassium chloride and fentanyl.

Fentanyl is an opioid painkiller that is 30 times more potent than heroin and at least 80 times stronger than morphine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Nearly 30,000 overdose deaths were linked to fentanyl in 2017, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data cited by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

More: Near a Nebraska town, cops seize enough opioids to kill over 26 million

The drug mixture is controversial, because if the substances do not work as planned, Moore could suffer extreme pain. Friday, a lawyer for the drug company behind the paralyzing drug said it might not be effective if it wasn’t stored at the proper temperature, the World-Herald reports.

If he is not properly sedated before being injected with the last drug, potassium chloride, University of Nebraska College of Law professor and lethal injection expert Eric Berger said Moore could feel like he’s being “burned alive from the inside."

Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska filed a motion to delay Moore’s execution on behalf of eight death row inmates, KETV reports. However, the execution remains scheduled for Tuesday morning.

In 2016, Nebraska reinstated the death penalty. The state has executed 37 people, the last being killed by an electric chair.

More: As I watched Billy Ray Irick executed, I could feel the heartbeat of another mom</s>The Latest on Nebraska's first execution since 1997 (all times local):

A Nebraska death-row inmate remained mostly still but breathed heavily and gradually turned purple while state prison officials carried out his execution.

Four media witnesses including an Associated Press reporter saw Carey Dean Moore taking short, gasping breaths Tuesday after the lethal injections started.

His breaths then became deeper and more labored. His chest heaved several times before it went still. Over the course of several minutes, his face turned a slight shade of red and then purple. His eyelids briefly cracked open.

The Department of Correctional Services administered the first of the four drugs in the state's lethal injection protocol at 10:24 a.m. Moore was declared dead at 10:47 a.m.

Moore was sentenced to death for the 1979 murders of two Omaha cab drivers.

Nebraska has carried out its first execution since 1997 with the lethal injection of Carey Dean Moore, who fatally shot two cab drivers almost four decades ago.

Moore was executed Tuesday with a combination of four drugs that had never been used before in an execution in the United States, including the powerful opioid fentanyl. The execution also marked the first lethal injection in Nebraska.

Moore was one of the nation's longest-serving death row inmates. His death comes about three years after Nebraska lawmakers abolished the death penalty, only to have it reinstated the following year through a ballot initiative partially financed by Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts.

A German pharmaceutical company tried to block the execution by alleging the state had illicitly obtained at least one of its drugs. A federal judge refused to stall the execution.

Nebraska is preparing to carry out its first execution since 1997 on Tuesday in a bewildering about-face driven largely by the state's Republican governor.

Carey Dean Moore, 60, is scheduled to be executed at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln with a never-before-tried combination of drugs. Moore was condemned to die for the 1979 shooting deaths of two Omaha cab drivers, Maynard Helgeland and Reuel Van Ness Jr., and is one of the nation's longest-serving death row inmates.

Gov. Pete Ricketts, a wealthy former businessman, helped finance a ballot drive to reinstate capital punishment after lawmakers overrode his veto in 2015. His administration then changed Nebraska's lethal injection protocol to overcome challenges in purchasing the necessary drugs and withheld records previously considered public that would identify the state's supplier.</s>LINCOLN, Neb. — The Latest on Nebraska’s first execution since 1997 (all times local):

Nebraska has carried out its first execution since 1997 with the lethal injection of Carey Dean Moore, who fatally shot two cab drivers almost four decades ago.

Moore was executed Tuesday with a combination of four drugs that had never been used before in an execution in the United States, including the powerful opioid fentanyl. The execution also marked the first lethal injection in Nebraska.

Moore was one of the nation’s longest-serving death row inmates. His death comes about three years after Nebraska lawmakers abolished the death penalty, only to have it reinstated the following year through a ballot initiative partially financed by Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts.

A German pharmaceutical company tried to block the execution by alleging the state had illicitly obtained at least one of its drugs. A federal judge refused to stall the execution.



 FILE - This file photo provided by the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services shows death-row inmate Carey Dean Moore. Nebraska prison officials are preparing to execute Moore on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018, for the 1979 murders of two Omaha cab drivers. The execution comes three years after Nebraska lawmakers voted to abolish capital punishment, but did an about-face driven largely by the state’s Republican governor. (Nebraska Department of Correctional Services via AP, File) (Associated Press)

Nebraska is preparing to carry out its first execution since 1997 on Tuesday in a bewildering about-face driven largely by the state’s Republican governor.

Carey Dean Moore, 60, is scheduled to be executed at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln with a never-before-tried combination of drugs. Moore was condemned to die for the 1979 shooting deaths of two Omaha cab drivers, Maynard Helgeland and Reuel Van Ness Jr., and is one of the nation’s longest-serving death row inmates.

Gov. Pete Ricketts, a wealthy former businessman, helped finance a ballot drive to reinstate capital punishment after lawmakers overrode his veto in 2015. His administration then changed Nebraska’s lethal injection protocol to overcome challenges in purchasing the necessary drugs and withheld records previously considered public that would identify the state’s supplier.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>LINCOLN, Neb. — The Latest on Nebraska’s first execution since 1997 (all times local):

Nebraska has carried out its first execution since 1997 with the lethal injection of Carey Dean Moore, who fatally shot two cab drivers almost four decades ago.

Moore was executed Tuesday with a combination of four drugs that had never been used before in an execution in the United States, including the powerful opioid fentanyl. The execution also marked the first lethal injection in Nebraska.

Moore was one of the nation’s longest-serving death row inmates. His death comes about three years after Nebraska lawmakers abolished the death penalty, only to have it reinstated the following year through a ballot initiative partially financed by Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts.

A German pharmaceutical company tried to block the execution by alleging the state had illicitly obtained at least one of its drugs. A federal judge refused to stall the execution.

Nebraska is preparing to carry out its first execution since 1997 on Tuesday in a bewildering about-face driven largely by the state’s Republican governor.

Carey Dean Moore, 60, is scheduled to be executed at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln with a never-before-tried combination of drugs. Moore was condemned to die for the 1979 shooting deaths of two Omaha cab drivers, Maynard Helgeland and Reuel Van Ness Jr., and is one of the nation’s longest-serving death row inmates.

Gov. Pete Ricketts, a wealthy former businessman, helped finance a ballot drive to reinstate capital punishment after lawmakers overrode his veto in 2015. His administration then changed Nebraska’s lethal injection protocol to overcome challenges in purchasing the necessary drugs and withheld records previously considered public that would identify the state’s supplier.</s>The Latest on Nebraska's first execution since 1997 (all times local):

Nebraska's first execution since 1997 drew very few protesters to the state prison in Lincoln.

The holding area outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary was mostly empty around 10 a.m. Tuesday as death-row inmate Carey Dean Moore was killed by lethal injection.

A combined total of less than a dozen death penalty supporters and opponents gathered in the rain while the execution took place.

Death penalty opponents have planned a 5 p.m. rally outside the Nebraska Capitol.

The light turnout stands in contrast to the 1994 execution of Harold Lamont Otey, when more than 1,000 people created a raucous, party-like atmosphere. Otey was executed shortly after midnight in the electric chair, and some in the crowd sang the song "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" after it was announced.

A Nebraska death-row inmate remained mostly still but breathed heavily and gradually turned purple while state prison officials carried out his execution.

Four media witnesses including an Associated Press reporter saw Carey Dean Moore taking short, gasping breaths Tuesday after the lethal injections started.

His breaths then became deeper and more labored. His chest heaved several times before it went still. Over the course of several minutes, his face turned a slight shade of red and then purple. His eyelids briefly cracked open.

The Department of Correctional Services administered the first of the four drugs in the state's lethal injection protocol at 10:24 a.m. Moore was declared dead at 10:47 a.m.

Moore was sentenced to death for the 1979 murders of two Omaha cab drivers.

Nebraska has carried out its first execution since 1997 with the lethal injection of Carey Dean Moore, who fatally shot two cab drivers almost four decades ago.

Moore was executed Tuesday with a combination of four drugs that had never been used before in an execution in the United States, including the powerful opioid fentanyl. The execution also marked the first lethal injection in Nebraska.

Moore was one of the nation's longest-serving death row inmates. His death comes about three years after Nebraska lawmakers abolished the death penalty, only to have it reinstated the following year through a ballot initiative partially financed by Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts.

A German pharmaceutical company tried to block the execution by alleging the state had illicitly obtained at least one of its drugs. A federal judge refused to stall the execution.

Nebraska is preparing to carry out its first execution since 1997 on Tuesday in a bewildering about-face driven largely by the state's Republican governor.

Carey Dean Moore, 60, is scheduled to be executed at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln with a never-before-tried combination of drugs. Moore was condemned to die for the 1979 shooting deaths of two Omaha cab drivers, Maynard Helgeland and Reuel Van Ness Jr., and is one of the nation's longest-serving death row inmates.

Gov. Pete Ricketts, a wealthy former businessman, helped finance a ballot drive to reinstate capital punishment after lawmakers overrode his veto in 2015. His administration then changed Nebraska's lethal injection protocol to overcome challenges in purchasing the necessary drugs and withheld records previously considered public that would identify the state's supplier.</s>LINCOLN, Neb. — The Latest on Nebraska's first execution since 1997 (all times local):

Nebraska has carried out its first execution since 1997 with the lethal injection of Carey Dean Moore, who fatally shot two cab drivers almost four decades ago.

Moore was executed Tuesday with a combination of four drugs that had never been used before in an execution in the United States, including the powerful opioid fentanyl. The execution also marked the first lethal injection in Nebraska.

Moore was one of the nation's longest-serving death row inmates. His death comes about three years after Nebraska lawmakers abolished the death penalty, only to have it reinstated the following year through a ballot initiative partially financed by Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts.

A German pharmaceutical company tried to block the execution by alleging the state had illicitly obtained at least one of its drugs. A federal judge refused to stall the execution.</s>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska carried out its first execution in more than two decades on Tuesday with a drug combination never tried before, including the first use of the powerful opioid fentanyl in a lethal injection.

Carey Dean Moore, 60, was pronounced dead at 10:47 a.m. Moore had been sentenced to death for killing two cab drivers in Omaha in 1979. He was the first inmate to be lethally injected in Nebraska, which last carried out an execution in 1997, using the electric chair.

Witnesses said that there appeared to be no complications in the execution process, which also was the first time a state used four drugs in combination.

At one point while on the gurney, Moore turned his head and mouthed several words to his family, including “I love you.”

In his final written statement, Moore admitted: “I am guilty.” But he said there are others on Nebraska’s death row who he believes are innocent and he said they should be released.

“How might you feel if your loved one was innocent and on death row?” Moore asked.

Moore’s execution comes a little more than three years after Nebraska lawmakers abolished the death penalty, only to have it reinstated the following year through a citizen ballot drive partially financed by Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts. The governor, a wealthy former businessman, has said he was fulfilling the wishes of voters in the conservative state.

The Nebraska drug protocol called for an initial IV dose of diazepam, commonly known as Valium, to render the inmate unconscious, followed by the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, then cisatracurium besylate to induce paralysis and stop the inmate from breathing and potassium chloride to stop the heart. After each injection, prison officials sent saline through the IV to flush out any residue and ensure all the drugs had entered the inmate’s system.

Diazepam and cisatracurium also had never been used in executions before.

According to prosecutors, Moore was 21 when he fatally shot Reuel Van Ness during a robbery with his younger brother, and used the money to buy drugs and pornography. Moore fatally shot Maynard Helgeland by himself five days later, saying he wanted to prove he could take a man’s life by himself. Moore was arrested a week later. He was charged and convicted of first-degree murder, while his 14-year-old brother was convicted of second-degree murder.

In his statement, Moore also apologized to his brother, who was with him during the 1979 robbery and murder of Van Ness.

“I should (have) led him in the right way to go instead of bringing him down, way down,” Moore said of his brother.

Moore had faced execution dates set by the Nebraska Supreme Court seven times since he was convicted, but each was delayed because of legal challenges and questions over whether previous lethal injection drugs were purchased legally. For some relatives of Moore’s victims, that was far too long — and they hope his name and crimes will finally vanish from headlines.

“We’re sick of hearing about Carey Dean Moore,” Steve Helgeland, one of Maynard Helgeland’s three children, said ahead of the execution.

Helgeland said the numerous delays in executing Moore had left him ambivalent about whether his father’s killer dies by lethal injection or spends the rest of his life in prison. Helgeland said he plans to be present at the prison for the execution to honor his father’s memory, but that he won’t witness it.

“There was a point in my life when I probably would have pulled the switch myself, but 39 years has a way of dissipating your anger,” he said.

A Germany-based drugmaker tried to halt the execution last week, filing a lawsuit that alleged the state had illegally procured at least one of the company’s drugs. The company, Fresenius Kabi, argued that allowing the execution to go forward would harm its reputation and business relationships.

But a federal judge sided with state attorneys , who argued that the public’s interest in carrying out a lawful execution outweighed the company’s concerns. The judge also noted that Moore had stopped fighting the state’s efforts to execute him.

A federal appeals court upheld that ruling Monday, and Fresenius Kabi decided not to take the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court.</s>LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska carried out its first execution in more than two decades on Tuesday with the lethal injection of a convicted murderer who had been on death row for nearly twice that long.

Carey Dean Moore, 60, was pronounced dead at 10:47 a.m. after he was injected with a never-before-tried combination of drugs including the first use of the powerful opioid fentanyl. Moore, who had been sentenced to death for killing two cab drivers in Omaha in 1979, also was the first inmate to be lethally injected in Nebraska, which last carried out an execution in 1997, using the electric chair.

Moore's execution comes a little more than three years after Nebraska lawmakers abolished the death penalty, only to have it reinstated the following year through a citizen ballot drive partially financed by Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts. The governor, a wealthy former businessman, has said he was fulfilling the wishes of voters in the conservative state.

According to prosecutors, Moore was 21 when he fatally shot Reuel Van Ness during a robbery with his younger brother, and used the money to buy drugs and pornography. Moore fatally shot Maynard Helgeland by himself five days later, saying he wanted to prove he could take a man's life by himself. Moore was arrested a week later. He was charged and convicted of first-degree murder, while his 14-year-old brother was convicted of second-degree murder.

Moore has faced execution dates set by the Nebraska Supreme Court seven times since he was convicted, but each was delayed because of legal challenges and questions over whether previous lethal injection drugs were purchased legally. For some relatives of Moore's victims, that was far too long — and they hope his name and crimes will finally vanish from headlines.

"We're sick of hearing about Carey Dean Moore," Steve Helgeland, one of Maynard Helgeland's three children, said ahead of the execution. "All we really want is for him to go away."

Helgeland said the numerous delays in executing Moore had left him ambivalent about whether his father's killer dies by lethal injection or spends the rest of his life in prison. Helgeland said he plans to be present at the prison for the execution to honor his father's memory, but that he won't witness it.

"There was a point in my life when I probably would have pulled the switch myself, but 39 years has a way of dissipating your anger," he said.

A Germany-based drugmaker tried to halt the execution last week, filing a lawsuit that alleged the state had illegally procured at least one of the company's drugs. The company, Fresenius Kabi, argued that allowing the execution to go forward would harm its reputation and business relationships.

But a federal judge sided with state attorneys , who argued that the public's interest in carrying out a lawful execution outweighed the company's concerns. The judge also noted that Moore had stopped fighting the state's efforts to execute him.

A federal appeals court upheld that ruling Monday, and Fresenius Kabi decided not to take the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Nebraska executes convicted murderer Carey Dean Moore, becoming the first U.S. state to execute an inmate with fentanyl, and what is also the state's first execution in 21 years, and its first by lethal injection.