Two inmates await lethal injection in Georgia

The US state of Texas has executed a man convicted of murder, and the state of Georgia is rushing to execute two people, including a mentally disabled African American, before its lethal drug supplies run out.

In the city of Huntsville, Texas, Carl Henry Blue, 48, was executed by lethal injection on Thursday, after the US Supreme Court refused his final appeal.

According to court records, Blue had been convicted for the murder of his former girlfriend in 1994. He had doused gasoline on Carmen Richards-Sanders and another man, and then set the two ablaze with a lighter. Richards-Sanders died 19 days later from burn injuries.

It was the first execution of the year in Texas, and at least 11 more prisoners are scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in the approaching months. Fifteen inmates were executed in Texas last year.

Meanwhile, the US state of Georgia is rushing to execute two prisoners before its supply of the lethal drug pentobarbital reaches its expiration date on March 1.

The attorney general of Georgia is pushing to execute Warren Hill, a mentally disabled African American who has been on death row since 1991, and Andrew Cook, on death row since 1995, this week as their death warrants run until February 26 and February 28 respectively.

Courts in Georgia put a halt to the executions as reports revealed that the corrections department had attempted to order the drug without a doctor’s prescription, which is a violation of the law.

Human rights activists and mental health advocates have condemned the state of Georgia for placing Hill.

The United Nations has also condemned the US ruling on Hill’s execution, calling for the state of Georgia to commute the sentence.

Over 1,200 inmates, mostly African Americans, have been executed in the United States since 1976.