Florida executes prisoner with etomidate despite drug maker’s concerns

Florida has used the anesthetic etomidate for the first time in a US execution, opening a new front in the running battle between states that wish to lethally inject inmates and a drug industry determined to stop executioners from using its products.

Mark Asay, who was convicted of two racially motivated murders in 1987, was pronounced dead 22 minutes after his scheduled execution time. He chose not to make a final statement, and witnesses saw no evidence of complications or suffering.

The execution was unique in three ways. Asay was the first white man in Florida history to be executed for killing a black man. He was …