Jay Nixon holds firm on plans for execution

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is standing firm with plans to execute Russell Bucklew this week, despite claims from the condemned man’s attorneys that he could suffer during the process because of a rare medical condition.

Bucklew is scheduled to die by a lethal dose of pentobarbital at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for killing a southeast Missouri man during a violent crime spree in 1996.

It would be the first execution nationally since April, when Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett’s vein collapsed and he suffered a fatal heart attack more than 40 minutes later despite efforts to save him.

Bucklew has a congenital condition that causes weakened and malformed blood vessels. Nixon told The Associated Press Monday that while he hasn’t yet decided clemency, he hasn’t seen any reason to halt the process.

This story was originally published May 19, 2014 at 2:33 PM with the headline "Jay Nixon holds firm on plans for execution."