“No acute injuries noted,” it states.

Several death penalty states require coroners to conduct autopsies or investigations following executions, includ ing South Dakota and Georgia.

Romanelli said the state should conduct autopsies and collect better data on levels of drugs in inmates’ blood to ensure the process is constitutional.

“If you have the data you can show one of two things,” he said. “The prison system can show it does what we say it does and the folks were sufficiently anesthetized or we can show it doesn’t do what we say it does.

“Without the data, I don’t understand how anyone could come to the conclusion that it meets the constitutional test.”

Heath said the state’s use of a paralyzing drug is akin to pulling a blind down during an execution, as occurred in Lockett’s case. The drug serves no purpose other than to prevent witnesses from seeing an inmate thrash around, he said.

“In places where prisoners are being paralyzed … that conceals the critical information about whether or not it was done legally and constitutionally and humanely,” Heath said.