Missouri officials filed an appeal of a federal court order...

Missouri officials filed an appeal of a federal court order that set an execution standard they have been unable to meet.
Attorney General Jay Nixon took the case to the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis, saying U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. erred in imposing a requirement that an anesthesiologist prepare the lethal drug cocktail. The provision could effectively ban executions.
Ruling last month in the case of Michael A. Taylor, Gaitan halted Missouri executions over concern that the method could subject the condemned to unconstitutionally cruel pain.
Corrections officials met Gaitan's July 15 deadline to submit a plan for overhauling procedures.
But they said they could not meet a key requirement to put an anesthesiologist in charge of preparing the lethal drug cocktail.
None of 298 anesthesiologists responded to letters from the state asking if they would consider the job.
Unable to find a board-certified anesthesiologist willing to participate in an execution, the state proposed to use other medical personnel instead.
That proposal "is an improvement over the current procedure," Gaitan wrote Tuesday. "However, there continue to be inadequacies with the personnel required to monitor and oversee the use of the anesthetic thiopental."