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Kentucky Attorneys Argue Over Lethal Injection

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Attorneys for Kentucky are set to argue why lethal injections should be allowed to go forward for the first time in more than four years.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd will hear arguments Monday in Frankfort. The state earlier this year switched from using three drugs to carry out a lethal injection to a method that uses 3 grams of sodium thiopental or 5 grams of pentobarbital – similar to the method used by Ohio.

Shepherd halted lethal injections in 2010 as the state prepared to execute Gregory L. Wilson, 56, for the 1987 rape, kidnapping and murder of 36-year-old Debbie Pooley in Kenton County. Shepherd expressed concerns about the method and later ordered the state to drop the three-drug method or defend it in court.