Gov. Eric Holcomb said Thursday that he has no problem with Indiana’s new method for execution, though he declined to provide specifics about the controversial drug to be used in the lethal injection of a man convicted of the murder of four people in 1997.Earlier this week Holcomb and Attorney General Todd Rokita asked the court to set an execution date for Joseph Corcoran, an Allen County man found guilty in the shooting deaths of his brother and three others. The announcement noted that Indiana would use pentobarbital, a drug that death penalty opponents have argued leads to undue suffering.

“We’ve tracked this particular drug and feel comfortable that not only is it the right drug, but the protocols are in place to carry out our duty,” Holcomb told reporters on Thursday at a media availability.Indiana’s last execution was in 2009. Holcomb said the state sought to acquire drugs to carry out lethal injection for seven years, although he said he could legally not disclose how the state now successfully purchased the drugs and from where.

Pentobarbital has become the drug of choice for executions in the United States in recent years, as the other drugs traditionally used for lethal injection have become increasingly difficult to obtain, since pharmaceutical companies often refuse to allow drugs they make to be used in executions.

Holcomb said he believes the death penalty is the right way to discourage particularly gruesome violent acts. Corcoran exhausted his appeals in 2016 and has been on death row ever since.

Former United States Attorney General William Barr approved the use of the single-drug formula of pentobarbital for executions in 2019. The drug is a barbiturate that depresses the central nervous system and causes the heart to stop. Lawyers of death row inmates have criticized the use of the drug, arguing it causes a sensation that is similar to drowning. The drug is most often used to euthanize pets.

Tyler Spence is a Pulliam Fellow primarily covering business. He can be contacted at jspence@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: governor holcomb doubles down on planned execution