Texas Death Row Inmates Can’t Block Use of Lethal Injection Drug

Texas’s prison system can’t be sued by death row inmates who say the state improperly stores the lethal injection drug pentobarbital and that its expiration makes it susceptible to painful side effects, a split state appeals court said Friday in reversing a trial court.

The state has broad authority to select drugs for lethal injections and to decide how to store them, a split panel on the Court of Appeals, Third District said. And, specific to this case, that authority isn’t overcome by claims from the inmates that use of pentobarbital violates other areas of law, including the Texas Pharmacy ...