Alabama Executions

Alabama's lethal injection chamber at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., is pictured in this Oct. 7, 2002 file photo. (AP Photo/File -- Dave Martin)

(DAVE MARTIN)

When the United States Supreme Court determines whether recent lethal injections constitute cruel and unusual punishment, much of that decision could turn on the credibility of a key expert witness - the dean of Auburn University's pharmacology school.

On Wednesday, the court will hear oral arguments over whether the sedative midazolam is sufficient to render death row prisoners unconscious during executions. Dr. Roswell Lee Evans, the dean of the Harrison School of Pharmacy at Auburn University, has testified that the drug works, even though the drug seems to have failed in roughly one in four executions in which it has been used, the investigative journalism non-profit ProPublica reports.

Evans credibility is being questioned by peers, and a 300-page expert witness report he wrote is under scrutiny because it contained more than 150 pages of printouts from the online consumer site drugs.com. That site has a disclaimer that says it is "not intended for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment," and a brief filed with the court by 16 professors of pharmacology says that it is not a good substitute for primary sources scientists in the field typically use.

Evans is one of the few pharmacologists left who are willing to testify as expert witnesses on behalf of death penalty advocates, especially for the effectiveness of midazolam.

Contrary to Evans' testimony, other pharmacologists have said that the drug has a "ceiling," making higher doses no more effective at rendering a patient unconscious. One of the 16 pharmacologists who signed the brief told ProPublica that she was "a little horrified" when she read Evans' testimony.

Until 2013, states used another sedative for executions, but the manufacturer of that drug, Hospira, ceased production because of its use in executions.

Despite the criticisms of midazolam, Evans testified that it would render a death row patient unconscious during and execution, when the second and third drugs respectively paralyze the prisoner and stop the prisoner's heart.

One of those prisoners, executed after the courts relied on Evans' testimony to let the execution proceed, awoke during the execution and said "my body is on fire."