‘GOT TO GET THIS RIGHT’

Alabama Guv Blames ‘Criminals’ for Failed Lethal Injections

But she has ordered a moratorium to review execution procedures.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has ordered a moratorium on executions—but not before blaming “legal tactics and criminals hijacking the system” for two failed lethal injections. Prison workers were unable to access veins in executions scheduled for Sept. 22 and Nov. 17—and now Ivey wants a review of death penalty procedures. “For the sake of the victims and their families, we’ve got to get this right,” she said, adding, “I don’t buy for a second the narrative being pushed by activists that these issues are the fault of the folks at Corrections or anyone in law enforcement, for that matter.” Robert Dunham, head of the anti-execution Death Penalty Information Center, dismissed Ivey’s narrative, telling AL.com, “Alabama is unique in its level of incompetence in setting execution IV lines.”