Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin (R) has signed legislation that makes nitrogen-induced hypoxia the main backup method of execution, if the state's primary method, lethal injection, cannot be used. Under this method, a variety of inert gas asphyxiation, a condemned prisoner is made to breath nitrogen gas, which contains little or no oxygen, causing the prisoner to lose consciousness. While supporters of the law claim that this method is quick and painless, it has never been used to execute anyone. The state's other backup execution methods, the electric chair and firing squad, remain available.
Read more at The Washington Post, CNN, The Guardian, UPI and the Tulsa World.
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