--- title: Georgia Lethal Injection Kelly Gissendaner Execution Postponed description: Georgia's supply of lethal injection drug pentobarbital may have gone bad canonical: https://time.com/3730653/georgia-lethal-injection-kelly-gissendaner-execution/ author: Josh Sanburn article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-03T20:31:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:52:56.586Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Georgia Postpones 2 Executions Over ‘Cloudy’ Drugs og:description: Georgia's supply of lethal injection drug pentobarbital may have gone bad og:url: https://time.com/3730653/georgia-lethal-injection-kelly-gissendaner-execution/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e1062865ff9b02b/6987789b2dce01490b9dcced/health-syringe-needle-5.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Health Syringe Needle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Georgia Postpones 2 Executions Over ‘Cloudy’ Drugs twitter:description: Georgia's supply of lethal injection drug pentobarbital may have gone bad twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e1062865ff9b02b/6987789b2dce01490b9dcced/health-syringe-needle-5.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Georgia Postpones 2 Executions Over ‘Cloudy’ Drugs by [Josh Sanburn](/author/josh-sanburn/) ## Josh Sanburn Mar 3, 2015 8:31 PM CUT  Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME by [Josh Sanburn](/author/josh-sanburn/) ## Josh Sanburn Mar 3, 2015 8:31 PM CUT Georgia indefinitely postponed two executions Tuesday to allow officials to analyze its current batch of lethal injection drugs, which [“appeared cloudy”](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/us/execution-of-georgia-woman-is-postponed-indefinitely.html "undefined") prior to an execution that had been scheduled Monday night. The execution of Kelly Gissendaner, who would’ve been the first woman put to death in the state in 70 years, was called off by the Georgia Department of Corrections Monday night after the state discovered its supply of pentobarbital, a short-acting barbiturate, looked murky. Georgia officials made the decision after consulting with a pharmacist, [according to The New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/us/execution-of-georgia-woman-is-postponed-indefinitely.html "undefined"), even though state officials said that its pentobarbital supply had been tested and was cleared for use. **MORE:** [Georgia Convict First to Be Executed After Botched Oklahoma Lethal Injection](http://time.com/2892183/three-executions-loom-after-botched-lethal-injection/ "undefined") The state then announced Tuesday that the executions of both Gissendaner and Brian Keith Terrell, who was set to die by lethal injection on March 10 for the 1992 murder of John Henry Watson, were indefinitely postponed. Gissendaner was convicted of arranging the 1997 murder of her husband, Douglas Gissendaner. A number of states have had trouble carrying out executions due to problems obtaining drugs. A series of lawsuits from death row inmates who are challenging the constitutionality of states’ lethal injection protocols have also led to stays of execution nationwide. **MORE:** [Ohio Looks to Shield Lethal Injection Drugmakers](http://time.com/3583768/ohio-lethal-injection-anonymous/ "undefined") Like many states, Georgia has turned to compounding pharmacies, which are not under federal oversight, for their drug supplies while also passing a secrecy law that keeps participating pharmacies anonymous. Georgia has not released the name of its drug supplier, and it’s unclear when its current batch of pentobarbital was due to expire. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3730653/georgia-lethal-injection-kelly-gissendaner-execution/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3730653/georgia-lethal-injection-kelly-gissendaner-execution/"},"headline":"Georgia Postpones 2 Executions Over ‘Cloudy’ Drugs","datePublished":"2015-03-03T20:31:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:52:56.586Z","description":"Georgia's supply of lethal injection drug pentobarbital may have gone bad","url":"https://time.com/3730653/georgia-lethal-injection-kelly-gissendaner-execution/","keywords":["Crime","georgia","Capital Punishment","lethal injection","executions"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e1062865ff9b02b/6987789b2dce01490b9dcced/health-syringe-needle-5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Josh Sanburn","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/josh-sanburn/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e1062865ff9b02b/6987789b2dce01490b9dcced/health-syringe-needle-5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME.com stock photos Health Syringe Needle","caption":"TIME.com stock photos Health Syringe Needle","creditText":"Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3730653/georgia-lethal-injection-kelly-gissendaner-execution/","name":"Georgia Postpones 2 Executions Over ‘Cloudy’ Drugs"}}]}] ```