Attorneys for the Nevada Department of Corrections admitted in a Wednesday filing that they have none of the drugs they need to conduct an execution.
“NDOC is not currently in possession of any unexpired medication for the drugs in the current execution protocol,” they wrote, adding that previously obtained drugs had expired and that the prison system did not plan to use the expired medication.
The Nevada attorney general’s office made the disclosure in a status report filed jointly with federal public defenders.
It comes as the two sides gear up for a new battle in the wake of an announcement from Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson that he would seek execution warrants for death row inmates Zane Floyd, 50, Donald Sherman, 62, and Sterling Atkins, 52.
All three are convicted murderers incarcerated at High Desert State Prison who have spent decades behind bars.
Floyd killed four people at a Las Vegas Albertsons supermarket in 1999.
Sherman bludgeoned a retired doctor to death with a hammer in 1994 while the victim slept in his Sun City home. Sherman was on parole for a previous killing at the time.
Atkins was sentenced to death for his role, with two other men, in the 1994 beating, sexual assault, and strangulation of a young mother in North Las Vegas.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.
