Arkansas revises lethal injection procedure.

Arkansas revises lethal injection procedure. Executioners administering lethal injections in Arkansas will follow methods used by "medical paraprofessionals" to ensure that condemned inmates are unconscious before delivering the 2 final drugs to carry out the death penalty, a revised state protocol says. The state attorney general’s office offered the revised lethal injection procedures as part of an effort to lift federal court stays of execution against inmates challenging the method. The new procedure, dated May 22, also adds mixing the 3 drugs used in Arkansas executions in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications and the "already existing practice” that executioners have at least 2 years of medical experience. Under Arkansas' new execution rules, either the state's deputy director of prisons or another staff member will check an inmate for "movement, opened eyes, eyelash reflex and response to verbal commands and physical stimuli." The next 2 drugs will be administered only if the inmate has no response and 3 minutes have passed since the injection of the anesthetic, the protocol states.