Clark County District Court Judge Jennifer Togliatti rescheduled the slated death date for 46-year-old Scott Raymond Dozier on Thursday. Dozier’s execution at Ely State Prison, NV, has been moved to the evening of November 14.
Judge Togliatti signed Dozier’s death warrant on July 27 and initially scheduled his execution for the week of October 16. In accordance with Nevada state law, the condemned inmate has to be executed within 90 days from when the death warrant was signed.
Dozier assured the Eighth Judicial District Court judge on Thursday that he is not wavering on his resolve to be executed even if it means he will suffer before dying, according to U.S.
News & World Report. He received the death sentence in 2007 for murdering 22-year-old Jeremiah Miller, of Arizona, in 2002. If he is executed as planned, Dozier will be the first inmate to die by lethal injection in the state in 11 years.
State and federal defense lawyers want execution injection protocol transparent
Judge Togliatti heard from his attorney, Thomas Ericsson, and a federal public defender, Lori Teicher. The attorneys want Nevada’s Department of Corrections (NDOC) officials to publicly disclose the lethal injection protocol that will be administered in carrying out the death sentence. According to the state’s law, the condemned inmate and his attorneys must be informed of the drug cocktail’s mix a week before capital punishment is carried out.
In Nevada, there aren’t any additional laws or policies related to the execution or the release of further information required about the procedure that must be revealed, the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted. David Anthony, Assistant Federal Public Defender said the lawyers “seek transparency.”
Officials confirm the state has drug cocktail to carry out capital punishment
State officials continue to offer assurance that the NDOC will have the drugs needed for the execution, despite stating previously that one of the drugs was not available.
Prison officials had contacted 247 vendors, searching for the drug last year. Officials received no responses during their quest.
Thursday afternoon, corrections officials released a press statement that disclosed the outcome of the NDOC’s consultation with its Chief Medical Officer. The lethal injection protocol will be comprised of the drug combination diazepam, fentanyl, and cisatracurium.
The NDOC director, James Dzurenda, selected the drug mix for the procedure.
Judge offering condemned inmate another chance to change his mind
Next week, the judge will schedule a hearing for arguments regarding whether state officials must disclose how and where the drugs used in administering death will be obtained and how they will be delivered into Dozier’s body. Next week’s hearing also affords Dozier another opportunity to change his mind, the Mineral County Independent-News reported. Judge Togliatti told Dozier that he is going to look at her “in the eye” and tell her that death is what he wants.
Defense lawyers want assurance that the state is not violating state and federal laws, depending on how the injection drugs are attained, U.S.
News & World Report relayed. Dozier’s attorneys want transparency “so the court knows,” he told the judge, that the execution order is “enforceable” and exacting the sentence is done lawfully. Dozier stands firm in telling the judge that he does not seek to have his death injection postponed any longer than is necessary.
If Dozier dies by lethal injection on November 14, he will be the first of Nevada’s death row inmates killed in the state’s ADA-compliant execution chamber, which cost the state nearly $900,000. The former chamber, in Carson City, NV, was demolished.
