A Missouri House panel has canceled a scheduled hearing about the state's controversial execution procedures.
Committee Chairman Jay Barnes says he called off Tuesday's hearing after learning that Department of Corrections Director George Lombardi was not going to attend it.
Barnes says he didn't want a one-sided hearing and hopes to reschedule at a later date.
It wasn't immediately clear why Lombardi wasn't going to be there.
The House Government Oversight and Accountability Committee was going to look into concerns the department is obtaining its execution drug from a compounding pharmacy in Oklahoma that's not licensed in Missouri.
Barnes says he also wants to examine how the department determines that all legal appeals are exhausted before carrying out executions.
