10 Execution Dates Being Requested by Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon

According to the Associated Press, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon has requested that 10 execution dates be set by the Supreme Court just four days after a federal appeals court ruled to restart executions in the state.

A spokesman for Nixon, Scott Holste told the AP, "these are all inmates that have gone through the entire process of state and federal appeals courts." Nixon has not requested any specific dates.

Missouri, as of today, has 46 men on death row. All inmates who are on death row are at Potosi Correctional Center, however, once an inmate is ready for execution, he is moved to a state prison in Bonne Terre, which is about 60 miles from St. Louis. A federal judge ordered a moratorium on executions last year after there had been a case filed by Michael Taylor, a condemned killer.

Once the moratorium was issued, there was an issue regarding Missouri's three-drug method of execution. When a death row inmate is being executed, the first dose that is injected is a massive dose of anesthetic sodium pentothal, which usually makes the inmate unconscious. Then he is injected with pancuronium bromide. This paralyzes muscles, such as the diaphragm. Then he is injected with potassium chloride, which brings on cardiac arrest. It was argued that this method was cruel and unusual punishment; however, a three judge panel of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling, saying that the three drug protocol is not cruel and unusual punishment.