The South Carolina Department of Corrections (DOC) filed a motion on Tuesday informing the South Carolina Supreme Court that it obtained a drug to carry out the death penalty through lethal injection. The last time South Carolina executed a prisoner was in May 2011 by lethal injection. Since then, the state halted executions because pharmacies refused to sell the state the drugs, knowing they would be used for executions.

Since May, the state has contacted more than 1,300 entities to find a drug for lethal injection. After this search, the state selected the drug pentobarbital, which consists of a single injection. South Carolina law allows an inmate on death row to choose whether to be executed by electrocution, firing squad or lethal injection.

Last year, a lower court judge found execution by firing squad and electrocution violated the South Carolina Constitution, followed by oral arguments held at the South Carolina Supreme Court earlier this year. Now, because the state has the option of lethal injection, the state’s DOC argues this lawsuit should be dismissed because the defendants originally only sought relief against execution by electrocution and firing squad. The DOC reasons that, because lethal injection is widely held as more humane than the former two options (although this view is under increasing scrutiny from human rights organizations), the defendants no longer face a constitutionally-recognized injury.

On Tuesday, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster stated, “Justice has been delayed for too long in South Carolina. This filing brings our state one step closer to being able to once again carry out the rule of law and bring grieving families and loved ones the closure they are rightfully owed.”