The Latest: Judge sets Wednesday hearing on execution drug

The Latest on the planned execution of a Nevada inmate slated to die by a three-drug lethal injection combination never before used in the U.S. (all times local):

3:55 p.m.

A judge in Las Vegas says she'll hear arguments and expects to decide just hours before a scheduled execution Wednesday on whether a drug company can at least temporarily stop Nevada from using one of its drugs.

Clark County District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez scheduled a 9 a.m. hearing on New Jersey-based Alvogen's demand that Nevada prison officials return the drug midazolam (mid-AHZ'-oh-lam) the company says was illegally obtained.

Alvogen says in court filings that it doesn't allow uses of midazolam in executions, and that using it in other states has been led to widespread criticism that the process has been botched.

The drug is the first of three expected to be administered during the scheduled 8 p.m. Wednesday execution of Scott Raymond Dozier (DOH'-sher) at a state prison in Ely (EE-lee).

Dozier is a twice-convicted killer for drug-trade mutilation slayings in 2002 in Phoenix and Las Vegas.

____

2 p.m.

A drug company has filed a lawsuit in Las Vegas seeking to stop Nevada from using one of its drugs in a scheduled execution.

New Jersey-based Alvogen filed documents Tuesday in Nevada state court declaring that state prison officials illegally obtained the drug midazolam (mid-AHZ'-oh-lam), and demanding its return.

It's not immediately clear if the lawsuit will stop the execution of Scott Raymond Dozier (DOH'-sher), scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday at a state prison in Ely (EE-lee).

Clark County District Court spokeswoman Mary Ann Price says the drug company would also need to file with Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez a request for an order stopping the execution.

Midazolam was substituted in May for expired prison stocks of diazepam (di-AHZ'-uh-pam), a sedative commonly known as Valium. The state planned to use it as the first in a three-drug lethal injection protocol.

____

9:55 a.m.

The Nevada death-row inmate due to die on Wednesday by a lethal combination of drugs never before used in the U.S. has said over and over that he wants his sentence carried out and he doesn't care if it's painful.

Scott Raymond Dozier's execution was postponed last November over concerns that the untried drug regimen could leave him suffocating and conscious but unable to move.

He repeated his desire to die during a brief telephone interview Sunday with the Las Vegas Review-Journal .

Dozier is a twice-convicted killer for drug-trade mutilation slayings in 2002 in Phoenix and Las Vegas.

He suspended his court appeals, making him one of about 10 percent of inmates who have volunteered to die nationwide since 1977.

His execution would be Nevada's first since 2006.