USA - Georgia. Roy Blankenship, 55, white, was executed

Roy Blankenship, 55, white, was executed. It was the state's first execution using pentobarbital. Some say the execution didn’t go straight. Blankenship was sentenced to death for the 1978 murder of Sarah Mims Bowen, 78, white, who died of heart failure after she was raped and beaten in her apartment. In March, agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration seized Georgia's supply of sodium thiopental, which attorneys for several death row inmates said Georgia had improperly imported from England. The Georgia Supreme Court late today unanimously rejected Blankenship's last-minute request for a stay, including his claim that using pentobarbital in the execution would cause undue pain and suffering. Blankenship's supporters asked the state medical board to revoke the license of Dr. Carlo Musso, who participated in the execution today. The complaint claimed Musso ran afoul of the law by importing sodium thiopental from overseas manufacturers without first registering with state regulators and that he later sold the drugs to officials in Tennessee and Kentucky. Musso said in a statement released to The Associated Press late Thursday that he is being singled out for "political purposes" and urged critics of the death penalty not to specifically target him. The statement did not directly address the allegations. As the injection began, Blankenship jerked his head toward his left arm and made a startled face while blinking rapidly. He soon lurched to his right arm, lunging with his mouth agape twice. He then held his head up, and his chin smacked as he mouthed words that were inaudible to observers. Within three minutes, his movements slowed. About six minutes after the injection began, a nurse checked his vital signs to ensure he was unconscious before the execution could continue. He was pronounced dead nine minutes later. His eyes never closed. Death penalty critics said Blankenship's movements were proof that Georgia shouldn't have used pentobarbital. Blankenship becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Georgia and the 50th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983, the 24th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1258th overall since the nation resumed exectuions on January 17, 1977.