Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) on Sunday said that using a new lethal drug that took as long as 26 minutes to kill an inmate is a "fair way" to conduct an execution.
Earlier this month, Ohio elected to use two drugs never combined before to execute Dennis McGuire after manufacturers began refusing to sell traditional execution drugs to U.S. states. According to reports, "McGuire gasped for air and took almost 26 minutes to die."
Louisiana announced last week that it would also use the drug cocktail to convicted killer Christopher Sepulvado.
"Are you comfortable with this execution going forward with this method of killing him?" CNN host Candy Crowley asked Jindal on Sunday.
Jindal pointed out that the Louisiana legislature was considering new laws to give the Department of Corrections more options for conducting executions, but this week's execution would go forward as scheduled.
"Where we stand with the execution that's coming up, we're in front of federal court," Jindal added. "The Department of Corrections feels confident they can make that case to the judges that this is a fair way to carry out the verdict of the court."
