"Looks like they waited until the last minute and now need help from those they refused to help earlier," an official wrote in January 2011. "So, I propose we help if TX promises to take a dive in the OU-TX game for the next 4 years."

Separately, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals announced Tuesday it would push back two imminent executions, after the state announced earlier this week it did not possess the drugs necessary to carry out the death sentences. Assistant Attorney General Seth Branham told the Appeals Court the state had undergone "nothing short of a Herculean effort" to carry out the executions of Clayton Locket, scheduled for March 20, and Charles Warner, scheduled for March 27.

Warner and Lockett's executions have been pushed back to April 22 and 29, respectively.

"We hope that no execution will go forward until we are able to obtain full information about how Oklahoma intends to conduct those executions, including the source of its execution drugs," Madeline Cohen, an attorney for Warner, said in a statement.

Several states around the country are running out of the drugs they have relied on for decades to carry out death sentences, as European manufacturers are making it increasingly difficult to procure such chemicals if they are intended for a lethal injection.

In response to the growing difficulties, some states have recently considered a return to older methods of execution generally considered less humane. Virginia weighed a bill in January that would have mandated electrocution be used to perform an execution if a lethal injection could not occur. The measure passed the state's lower chamber before dying in the Senate.

Lawmakers in Wyoming and Missouri have also flirted with a return to the firing squads.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

Dustin Volz is a former staff correspondent for National Journal.