Pharmaceutical companies have put the brakes on many states’ ability to execute prisoners using lethal injections. Lacking alternatives, states are trying to keep the public from learning details about how they carry out executions.
In 2011, Jeffrey Motts was executed in South Carolina. More than a decade later, the state hasn't carried out another execution because officials have struggled to obtain the drugs needed for lethal injection.
A Lancaster County judge tabbed Tim Noerrlinger to serve as a special prosecutor to review the department s investigation into the break-in, reported last July.