FRANKFORT, KY - A Kentucky judge says he plans to rule "very promptly" on the state's request to lift an injunction barring executions since 2010 and whether it may use a new single-drug method to carry out lethal injections.
 
Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd on Monday described the issues surrounding executions as "a difficult matter" after a 90-minute hearing in Frankfort.
 
Attorneys for the state asked Shepherd to allow executions to go forward with a new one- or two-drug method. Earlier this year, the state adopted an execution process similar to Ohio's to replace a lethal injection method using three drugs. 
 
Shepherd halted lethal injections in 2010 as the state prepared to execute 56-year-old Gregory L. Wilson for the 1987 murder of 36-year-old Debbie Pooley in Kenton County.