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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana's Democratic governor and Republican attorney general are trading barbs over the recent extension of a court-order prohibiting executions in the state.
Attorney General Jeff Landry said in a statement Wednesday that his office is withdrawing from defending against a lawsuit challenging Louisiana's lethal injection protocols.
Landry claimed Gov. John Bel Edwards is a greater obstacle to carrying out executions than a drug shortage for lethal injections. Edwards accused Landry of "political grandstanding" and abdicating his duties.
On Monday, a federal judge approved a one-year extension to an order barring Louisiana from carrying out any death sentences. An attorney for the corrections department asked for the extension.
Drug shortages have forced Louisiana's corrections department to rewrite its execution plan several times since 2010, the year of its last execution.
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