Nebraska completes first fentanyl execution

Nebraska on Tuesday carried out its first execution since 1997 and the nation’s first lethal injection with a drug combination including the powerful opioid fentanyl. Carey Dean Moore was put to death for murdering two Omaha cab drivers in 1979. He was one of the nation’s longest-serving death row inmates. Nebraska abolished the death penalty in 2015, but it was reinstated via a ballot initiative championed by Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Republican. His administration changed the state’s lethal injection protocol to overcome challenges in purchasing the necessary drugs. A German pharmaceutical company tried to block the execution by alleging the state had illicitly obtained at least one of its drugs, but a federal judge ruled against it.