By Jim Forsyth
Oct 2 (Reuters) - Three Texas death row inmates claim the state plans to execute them by experimenting with new drugs, never used for such a purpose, that were obtained under false pretenses, attorneys told Reuters on Wednesday.
Texas is turning to the new execution drugs in a desperate attempt to keep the United States' most active execution chamber operating despite dwindling supplies of the drug traditionally used for lethal injections, a lawsuit filed by the inmates says.
The inmates, one of whom is scheduled for execution on Oct. 9, allege the Texas Department of Criminal Justice used the address of a hospital unit shuttered three decades ago in order to obtain the three new drugs.
They say the drugs - propofol, midazolam and hydromorphone - would likely not have been supplied if the manufacturers knew the purpose they would be used for, according to a lawsuit filed this Tuesday in federal court in Houston.
Texas prison officials declined to comment on the allegations made in the lawsuit.
They said Wednesday that they have enough pentobarbital, the barbiturate used in Texas executions since 2012, to last them until at least next year. The state recently received a fresh supply of the drug from a Texas compounding pharmacy, after warning in August that their supplies were nearly exhausted.
"The purchase will allow the agency to carry out all currently scheduled executions," state officials said in a statement.
Texas has seven executions scheduled, including two in October. The state has executed 13 inmates so far this year.
Among the inmates suing the state is Michael Yowell, set to die Oct. 9 for killing his parents and blowing up their home in Lubbock, Texas, in 1998.
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