Alabama's governor has ordered a "top-to-bottom" review of lethal injections after the state's third botched attempt.
Kay Ivey, 78, has demanded a pause in executions and review of the state's capital punishment system as she looks to stop any additional executions going wrong.
On Monday, she instructed the attorney general, Steve Marshall, to withdraw motions seeking execution dates for two prisoners until the department of corrections undertake a full review of the state's execution process.
It comes after the failed attempt on Thursday to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith as officials spent over an hour trying to insert IV lines in order to give him the lethal injection.
Smith was given a stay of execution and it was the second time the state struggled to put an inmate to death in the past two months.
In addition, it is also the third botched attempt since 2018.
Officials managed to complete an execution in July but it was completed after a three-hour delay caused by a problem with the IV line.
Alabama's governor hit back at critics blaming prison officials for the failed executions as she claimed “legal tactics and criminals hijacking the system are at play here”.
She added: “For the sake of the victims and their families, we’ve got to get this right."
The corrections commissioner, John Hamm, has urged the review to find out what is complicating the executions.
He said: “Everything is on the table – from our legal strategy in dealing with last-minute appeals, to how we train and prepare, to the order and timing of events on execution day, to the personnel and equipment involved.”
However, the state's top prosecutor refused to say whether he would agree to the governor's review request.
Mike Lewis, a spokesman for Steve Marshall, said the attorney general will “read the governor’s and commissioner’s comments with interest” and “will have more to say on this at a later date.”
Alabama Arise, a non-profit charity that advocates on behalf of the poor, said Mr Marshall should agree to the review and to "do their part to reduce the unfairness of Alabama’s death penalty system”.
Tennessee’s governor, Bill Lee, paused a lethal injection in April this year because he learned the drugs had not been tested as required.
Mr Lee ordered an independent investigation and stopped all executions until the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Alabama’s execution of Joe Nathan James Jr took several hours in July because of problems finding an IV line.
And in September, the scheduled execution of Alan Eugene Miller was axed because of difficulty accessing his veins.
Miller said in a court filing that prison staff poked him with needles for more than an hour.
