New law allows more people to administer lethal injections in NC

http://wnct.com/2015/08/07/new-law-allows-more-people-to-administer-lethal-injections-in-nc/

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) – A new law in the Tar Heel state sets new rules for who is allowed to administer lethal injections to death row inmates. Friday was the first day nurses and physician assistants was allowed to give the drug without a doctor present. A doctor must still sign off that the person has died.
Since 2006, no one has been executed in North Carolina. This, in large part, because many doctors refused to participate. A Duke University study says capital punishment costs the state more than $11 million a year. Some of the expense comes from maintaining and securing death row inmates in high-security facilities with additional guards. These men and women must be closely monitored while they await execution or appeal the decision.
The study also explains that attorneys are paid higher rates when representing a capital murder charge. Jurors also make more for their time, which usually is extended in comparison to a life sentence trial.
In Pitt County, three men will head to court in 2015, all facing capital punishment. Willie Whitehead, Antwan Anthony and Xavier Shamble will have capital charges if convicted. The three men are accused of shooting and killing three employees of a Hustle Mart in Farmville in 2012. Anthony is scheduled to be back in court in September. Shamble and Whitehead will face a judge later this year.
According to North Carolina Department of Public Safety, there are 148 people on death row. Those inmates are housed at a prison in Raleigh. Some of them have been appealing the death ruling since 1985. 11 inmates currently awaiting execution are from Eastern North Carolina.