‘Machinery of Death’: Gas chamber may be revived in Missouri
Gas chambers could be brought back to life in the state of Missouri, where the attorney general has indicated replacing lethal-injection with the long-forgotten and controversial means of execution before the former’s drug supply runs out. "As each supply expires, the department's ability to carry out lawfully imposed capital sentences diminishes," Attorney General Chris Koster said in a motion filed with the court. "Unless the court changes its current course, the legislature will soon be compelled to fund statutorily-authorized alternative methods of execution to carry out lawful judgments." Only two forms of execution are permitted by Missouri law: lethal injection and death by gas.