USA - Georgia. Court lifts the execution stay of Warren Hill, but the state is out of lethal-injection drug

Court lifts the execution stay of Warren Hill, 53, Black; but the state is out of lethal-injection drugs. By a 2-1 vote, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Warren Hill's mental retardation claims had already been considered and rejected. The court's decision means the state can set a new execution date for Hill at any time. But the Georgia Department of Corrections is currently out of pentobarbital, a barbiturate used as the state's sole lethal-injection drug. "At this time, we are looking into the procurement of the drug," agency spokeswoman Gwendolyn Hogan wrote in an email. Hill was sentenced to death for killing fellow inmate Joseph Handspike in 1990. Handspike was serving a life sentence in the same prison where Hill was incarcerated. At the time, Hill was serving a life sentence for the 1986 murder of his 18-year-old girlfriend. Hill’s execution was set for Feb. 20, 2013, and was stayed just 30 minutes before he was due to die by lethal injection.