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Records Detail Frantic Hunt For Lethal Injection Drug

SACRAMENTO (CBS) — Newly-revealed documents show California officials launched a global search to replace the knockout drug in the cocktail used to execute death row inmates.

KNX 1070's Ron Kilgore reports

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Records obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) show state prison officials scrambling to replace the expiring supply of sodium thiopental this summer ahead of the September execution of Albert Greenwood Brown, who faces execution for raping and killing a Riverside County high school student.

For months, they looked for new supplies of sodium thiopental from states including Texas before they finally found a British manufacturer, but their order still awaits federal clearance.

The planned execution of Brown was put on hold — as are all others in California — until a federal lawsuit against the state's lethal injection process is settled.

(©2010 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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