Feb 9, 2008 — Nebraska Supreme Court rules electrocution unconstitutional. (New York Times)
April 8, 2008 — Bruning said he will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the electric chair. (Lincoln Journal Star, 4/8/11)
April 16, 2008 — In Baze vs. Rees, U.S. Supreme Court upholds Kentucky’s method of lethal injection, which requires a three drug cocktail with the first drug administered being sodium thiopental. In the court’s view, the drug allows lethal injection to be considered constitutional because the sodium thiopental renders the victim unconscious, thereby preventing an execution from being considered cruel and unusual punishment as subsequent drugs are administered. (Source: Cornell Legal Information Institute) (Tennessee Office of the Courts)
April 16, 2008 – Attorney General Jon Bruning hails the decision, and says he will help the legislature craft a law allowing lethal injections to proceed. “We now have a road map for selecting a new method of execution for our state,” Bruning said. (Source: AP, Neb. governor weighs effect of lethal injection ruling)
April 25, 2008 – Bruning drops push to have electrocution declared constitutional. (Associated Press, 4/25/08)
January 6, 2009 — Attorney General Jon Bruning issues report that requests the protocol for lethal injection be decided by the state Dept. of Corrections. (Associated Press, 1/6/09)
May/June 2009 — Gov. Dave Heineman signs bill approving lethal injection as state’s new method of execution. (Lincoln Journal Star, 1/25/11)
Dec. 2009 – Dept. of Corrections submits lethal injection protocol to Bruning for approval. Once Bruning approved, it would need final approval from Gov. Dave Heineman. (Associated Press, 12/9/2009, Lincoln Journal Star, 12/14/09)
Feb. 2010 — Governor approves protocol for lethal injection. (Lincoln Journal Star, 1/25/11)
December/January 2011 — Nebraska pays $2,056 for 500 grams of sodium thiopental to, Kayem, a tiny company in India whose website proclaims in broken English that it is also a seller of generic Viagra. It is based in a tiny, two-room apartment according to media reports, without any climate control. (Associated Press and Lincoln Journal Star, 4/22/11)
April 5, 2011 – Indian officials raid the offices of Kayem . The CEO tells the media that investigators took “all the data about the transaction between my company and the states of Nebraska and South Dakota,” (India Abroad Newspaper, 4/15/11)
April 7, 2011 – Following the raid the company announced it would no longer sell the drug to the United States. (The Atlantic, 4/7/11)
April 12, 2011 – A lawyer with the state Department of Correctional Services was told via an email message from a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official that Nebraska’s DEA registration did not allow it to import controlled substances. The email summarizes a phone call from the DEA the department received the prior day indicating the state did not have a proper registration to import the drug. (Lincoln Journal Star, 6/10/11)
April 21, 2011 – At Bruning’s request, Nebraska Supreme Court schedules execution of Carey Dean Moore for June 14, 2011. (Associated Press)
April 22, 2011 — Kayem CEO releases statement saying the state bought the drug from a pharmacy broker named Chris Harris who deceived the company – even going as far as registering it to do business in Nevada without its knowledge. (Lincoln Journal Star, 4/22/11)
May 25, 2011 — Nebraska Supreme Court stays previously scheduled June 14, 2011 execution of Carey Dean Moore amid allegations that the state improperly bought the wrong drug for the execution. (Lincoln Journal Star, 5/25/11)
May 26, 2011 — DEA sends letter of admonition to Nebraska Department of Corrections over botched purchase of lethal execution drug. Letter references agreement of department to turn supply of drug over to state patrol to be destroyed. (Lincoln Journal Star 6/30/11)
June 8, 2011 — Attorney general’s office requests the Supreme Court lift stay of execution for Carey Dean Moore which was scheduled for June 14. Court refuses to grant request. (Lincoln Journal Star, 6/8/11)
June 30, 2011 — Attorney for Moore seeks new appeal alleging State Attorney General Jon Bruning’s office continued to push for an execution date for Moore even though it knew — but did not publicize — that it could not use the drug. The attorney general’s office let Moore, the Nebraska Supreme Court, the victims’ families and the people of the state of Nebraska operate under the false impression that DCS could carry out Moore’s execution on June 14, attorney says. (Lincoln Journal Star 6/30/11) Note: Withholding information from the Supreme Court would violate the American Bar Association’s Rule 3.3, which demands candor before the court. (American Bar Association, Center for Professional Responsibility)
June 30, 2011 — State has not yet destroyed supply of illegally obtained drugs. (Lincoln Journal Star 6/30/11)
July 13, 2011 — Judge allows new appeal to vacate execution to proceed on grounds that AG’s office withheld information from lawyers and Nebraska Supreme Court about problems with the lethal injection drug they bought from India. (Lincoln Journal Star, 7/11/11)
July 18, 2011 – In radio interview, Bruning suggests DEA should stop interfering with state executions: “But here’s the DEA, I’ve got ten lawyers trying to ask me about whether the importer was on the proper list, and my response is, get outta my business. I don’t need the federal government looking over my shoulder doing my job for the people of Nebraska.” [KMCX Radio Interview 7/18/11]
July 27, 2011 – In new radio interview, Bruning blames problems on “technicalities,” says state acted properly, contradicts reports that indicate state was asked to destroy the drug. “So we always intended to do it by the law. We have always done it by the law. And we’ll continue to do it by the law. We have the original supply of sodium thiopental. It’s in the possession of Corrections, DEA has not destroyed it or asked us to destroy it, but, you know a lot of this focus has been on technicalities, and that can be very frustrating.” [Lincoln Live w/ Dale Johnson 7/27/11]
July 27, 2011 — Bruning also suggests in the same radio interview that sodium thiopental is not needed, even though that could be considered an unconstitutional form of lethal injection and expose the state to further legal liabilities for not following its own protocol. “Which by the way is a whole another philosophical argument, should we anesthetize these guys? Do they deserve to be comfortable, as they meet their maker?” [Lincoln Live w/ Dale Johnson 7/27/11]
Aug. 15, 2011 — AG’s office said that it believed it could have obtained the drug legally in time for the scheduled execution on June 14 even though it had asked for the stay of execution to be lifted on June 8. (Lincoln Journal Star, 8/15/11)
Aug. 15, 2011 – Defense attorney says in new filing, that AG and Department of Corrections has stonewalled and refused his request for information on how the state obtained the drugs, seeks to depose attorney general and other staff members. (Lincoln Journal Star, 8/15/11)
Oct. 26, 2011 — Bruning says he considered defying the DEA over drug importation issue. “Listen, why do they care? Why do the Feds have anything to do with our business – with our folks that have been duly convicted, duly sentenced to death under Nebraska law? Why are the Feds even talking to me about it? My response is, “Get out of my business. I didn’t ask for them to come in. I didn’t want them to come in.” Part of me was thinking, you know, “I’m going to put this stuff behind the wall down here in prison and if you want to send the 5th Marines in and get it, knock yourself out. We’ll see. You really want to do that?” I mean, this is going through my head. [UNL College Republicans Meeting, 10/26/11]
Nov. 3, 2011 — Nebraska Department of Corrections announces it has a new supply of sodium thiopental. Attorney General Jon Bruning asks the Supreme Court to schedule and execution date for Michael Ryan, one of 12 inmates on death row in Nebraska. (Omaha World-Herald,11/4/11; Lincoln Journal Star, 7/10/10)
Nov. 3, 2011 — Jon Bruning goes on Lincoln radio talk show to assure public that this time, the state has followed the proper procedures to conduct execution of Michael Ryan. “And so – you know this – we have imported, you know, the sodium thiopental and the other drugs using all the channels required by our nanny federal government and we will carry out the execution according to law.” (Drive Time Lincoln, Radio Interview, 11/3/11)
DTL (Coby Mach) – 1:58 – Jon, the last drug that we received to carry out the executions in Nebraska apparently came out of a strip mall from India. It was determined that they did not have the proper licensing. The folks that imported this into the state didn’t have the proper – didn’t go through the proper channels. Can we be assured that this has gone through the proper channels?
Bruning – 2:24 – Yes. I mean, that first hulabaloo was ridiculous by the way. It makes me wonder if the DEA has too many people and too much time on their hands. I mused whether they ought to – some of them ought to grab a gun and go down to the southern border and maybe keep some of the illegal drugs out instead of messing around with the state of Nebraska and our importation of sodium thiopental because that last batch – we tested that and it was sodium thiopental and it would have the required anesthetic affect. The problem – and it came through customs, who said it was fine. It was DEA who said the importer wasn’t on the list. So we’ve modified our technique in that regard and we have the sodium thiopental that we’ve had tested and indeed has the proper anesthetic affect and we had it tested by an independent lab and so it’s the right stuff. DEA has agreed. They’re – you know, this has all been done with DEA’s blessing so to speak. So it bothers me that we even have to pay attention to what DEA wants in this whole thing. We are a sovereign state after all. The federal government – if you want to know why they’re wasting so much money this would be exactly one of the reasons: that they’re messing around with a sovereign state in this regard. But – and it also begs the question, Coby, why on earth do we even worry about anesthetizing these guys? But we do. You know, Michael Ryan didn’t anesthetize the victims that he was brutalizing.
(Drive Time Lincoln, Radio Interview, 11/3/11)
Nov. 18, 2011 — CEO of pharmaceutical company Naari sends letter to Nebraska Attorney General and Nebraska Supreme Court saying that the state bought the drugs under false pretenses by using a middleman who was given “samples” of the drug after telling the company he would provide it to officials in Zambia to be used as an anesthetic. Instead, he sold the drugs for $5,411. Court documents indicate the same middleman was involved in the state’s earlier improper importation of the drugs. (Lincoln Journal Star, 11/29/11)
Nov. 29, 2011 — Attorney General declines comment on new revelations. Department of Corrections says it has no plans to return the drug. (Associated Press, 11/28/11)
Dec. 2011 — “We’re not in the business of helping to execute people, we were lied to and cheated,” a spokesman for the drug company told a local Indian news magazine. (Outlook India, December 2011 issue)
