The Nevada Supreme Court is scheduled to hear an appeal allowing the state to execute convicted killer Scott Dozier with a never-before tried drug combination.

Late last year a judge put off the execution after opponents argued the drugs could cover up potential suffering.

Dozier has asked for his execution to be carried out regardless of the drug used.

Dozier was found guilty of the 2002 murder of 22-year-old Jeremiah Miller, whose torso was found in a suitcase in a Las Vegas trash bin. He also was convicted of second-degree murder of another victim, whose torso was buried in the Arizona desert.

The state wants to execute him with a three-drug combination never used before in the United States.

The American Civil Liberties Union says the potential for a botched execution amounts to cruel or unusual punishment.

Nevada state law requires all executions to be done by lethal injection, but no states can buy the traditional drugs needed to complete the sentences.  

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)