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Arkansas judge orders state to disclose source of execution drugs Arkansas judge orders state to disclose source of execution drugs
(about 2 hours later)
A judge has ordered Arkansas to release information about its execution drug supplier to attorneys for death row inmates who are challenging the state’s execution secrecy law. Arkansas was ordered on Monday to release information about its supplier of lethal injection drugs to attorneys for death row inmates who are challenging the state’s execution secrecy law.
The order was issued Monday by Pulaski County circuit court judge Wendell Griffen. The judge agreed late on Friday to temporarily halt executions for eight inmates who were scheduled for lethal injections in the next four months. Pulaski County circuit court judge Wendell Griffen said the state must “identify or otherwise object to disclosure” of the manufacturers, distributor, seller or supplier of Arkansas’ three lethal injections drugs by 21 October. That includes turning over package inserts, shipping labels, laboratory test results and other information to the court and the inmates’ attorneys.
The Monday ruling orders the state to “identify or otherwise object to disclosure” of the manufacturers, distributor, seller or supplier of Arkansas’ three lethal injections drugs. The order gives the state until 21 October to turn over the package inserts, shipping labels, laboratory test results and other information. The state can submit a request for a protective order for the drug manufacturer and supplier information, Griffen said.
It will be up to the state attorney general to decide what’s included in that request. The office could ask Griffen to uphold the state’s secrecy law as it’s written, which requires information about the source of the drugs to be kept under wraps. It could also ask that if the source is shared with the inmates’ attorneys, they be barred from releasing it to anyone else.
Attorney general Leslie Rutledge “is considering her options,” according to Judd Deere, a spokesman for the AG’s office, which is representing the department of correction in the lawsuit. Deere said the office would have no further comment on Monday.
Jeff Rosenzweig, an attorney for the inmates, said he and the other counsel would not comment on the order.
Griffen temporarily halted executions for eight inmates who were scheduled for lethal injections between 21 October and 14 January in a ruling Friday.
His order on Monday also set a 1 March hearing date for the inmates’ request to permanently halt executions under the state’s secrecy law.
Arkansas is among a handful of states with laws that allow prison officials to withhold information about execution drugs.Arkansas is among a handful of states with laws that allow prison officials to withhold information about execution drugs.
Last month, the Associated Press identified three pharmaceutical companies that likely made Arkansas’ execution drugs; each company said they object to their drugs being used that way. One of the companies has said it is pressing the department of correction for confirmation that Arkansas has obtained its drugs but hasn’t heard back. The state has said it cannot respond under the secrecy law.
The state’s three-drug protocol includes the sedative midazolam, the paralytic vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride, which would stop the inmate’s heart. The state purchased the drugs in late June for about $24,000.
The vecuronium bromide in the state’s medical storage safe will expire in June 2016. The potassium chloride expires in January 2017, while the midazolam expires in April 2017. Midazolam was implicated after executions last year in Arizona, Ohio and Oklahoma went on longer than expected, with inmates gasping and groaning as they died.
The death row inmates are challenging the constitutionality of Arkansas’ secrecy law, including whether it violates a previous settlement agreement from a different lawsuit where the state agreed to tell the inmates the source of the lethal drugs.
The state has argued that agreement is not a current binding contract because a final ruling was issued in March.