After unintended 12-year pause, South Carolina says it has secured drug to resume lethal injections

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina has obtained a drug needed to carry out lethal injections and is ready to perform the state’s first execution in over 12 years, officials announced Tuesday.

The pause on executions wasn’t official. The state’s supply of the three drugs it used to kill inmates expired and drug companies refused to sell them any more because they could be publicly identified.

The South Carolina General Assembly passed a shield law in May allowing the state to keep secret the procedure for executions and the suppliers of drugs or other items used.

On Tuesday, four months later, state Corrections Director Bryan Stirling announced he bought a supply of pentobarbital and the state would begin using the sedative as the only drug in its executions.