Lawyers: Georgia officials indecisive about execution

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) -- Before they ultimately postponed an execution at the eleventh hour, Georgia officials were reportedly indecisive about whether they should proceed with a cloudy injection drug, according to a court filing.

Kelly Renee Gissendaner was set to die at 7 p.m. Monday. Corrections officials told reporters around 11 p.m. that they were postponing the execution "out of an abundance of caution" because the pentobarbital they intended to use was cloudy.

But the state's lawyers called Gissendaner's attorneys several times, changing their minds about whether to go forward, Gissendaner's lawyers wrote in an emergency motion for a stay of execution filed late Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court. Without intervention by the high court, Gissendaner's lawyers said, the state could decide to go ahead and execute her.

No new date was given for Gissendaner's execution.

Pentobarbital is the only drug used in Georgia executions. For other recent executions, the state has gotten the drug from a compounding pharmacy. Officials did not immediately respond to an email late Monday asking if that was the source in this case. Georgia law prohibits the release of any identifying information about the source of execution drugs or any entity involved in an execution.

Gissendaner was originally set to die Feb. 25, but corrections officials delayed the execution because of an impending snowstorm.