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| Herbert Smulls: supreme court halts Missouri execution after drug challenge | Herbert Smulls: supreme court halts Missouri execution after drug challenge |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The US supreme court granted a stay of execution for the Missouri death row inmate Herbert Smulls, after his lawyers protested that the state had refused to disclose the source of the drug due to be used to kill him. | The US supreme court granted a stay of execution for the Missouri death row inmate Herbert Smulls, after his lawyers protested that the state had refused to disclose the source of the drug due to be used to kill him. |
| Justice Samuel Alito signed the order that was sent out on Tuesday night after Barack Obama's state of the union speech. | Justice Samuel Alito signed the order that was sent out on Tuesday night after Barack Obama's state of the union speech. |
| Smulls's lawyers had made last-minute pleas on Tuesday to spare his life, focusing on the state's refusal to disclose from which compounding pharmacy they obtain the lethal injection drug pentobarbital. Missouri has argued the compounding pharmacy is part of the execution team and therefore its name cannot be released to the public. | Smulls's lawyers had made last-minute pleas on Tuesday to spare his life, focusing on the state's refusal to disclose from which compounding pharmacy they obtain the lethal injection drug pentobarbital. Missouri has argued the compounding pharmacy is part of the execution team and therefore its name cannot be released to the public. |
| Smulls was convicted and sentenced to death for killing a St Louis county jeweller and badly injuring his wife during a 1991 robbery. | Smulls was convicted and sentenced to death for killing a St Louis county jeweller and badly injuring his wife during a 1991 robbery. |
| The 56-year-old had been scheduled for lethal injection at 12.01am local time on Wednesday. | The 56-year-old had been scheduled for lethal injection at 12.01am local time on Wednesday. |
| Earlier, Smulls' lawyers protested that the secrecy surrounding Missouri's source for the pentobarbital that was due to be used in the execution was hampering their efforts to defend him. | Earlier, Smulls' lawyers protested that the secrecy surrounding Missouri's source for the pentobarbital that was due to be used in the execution was hampering their efforts to defend him. |
| At worst, the lawyers contended, Smulls could be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment by being executed with drugs that have been only lightly regulated and have not been subjected to public scrutiny. | At worst, the lawyers contended, Smulls could be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment by being executed with drugs that have been only lightly regulated and have not been subjected to public scrutiny. |
| State authorities have tried to obscure the identity of the compounding pharmacy that supplied the drug, going to such lengths as making the name of the business, like the execution team, protected from disclosure under Missouri law. But Cheryl Pilate, one of the defence lawyers fighting for Smulls's life, named the Apothecary Shoppe, a compounding pharmacy in Tulsa, as the source of the lethal injection drug. | State authorities have tried to obscure the identity of the compounding pharmacy that supplied the drug, going to such lengths as making the name of the business, like the execution team, protected from disclosure under Missouri law. But Cheryl Pilate, one of the defence lawyers fighting for Smulls's life, named the Apothecary Shoppe, a compounding pharmacy in Tulsa, as the source of the lethal injection drug. |
| “We have studied publicly available documents – information that any citizen can obtain – and concluded that the Apothecary Shoppe was the source,” Pilate told the Guardian. | “We have studied publicly available documents – information that any citizen can obtain – and concluded that the Apothecary Shoppe was the source,” Pilate told the Guardian. |
| Lawyers acting for Smulls, 56, who was sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of a jewelry store owner Stephen Honickman, lodged acourt motionprotesting that the secrecy surrounding the source of the execution drugs was a violation of the prisoner's first amendment rights as well as his right to proper legal representation. | |
| “We are being subjected to government secrecy at its most extreme. There is no greater manifestation of a state's power than to execute one of its citizens – and when that is done, it has to be done correctly,” Pilate said. | “We are being subjected to government secrecy at its most extreme. There is no greater manifestation of a state's power than to execute one of its citizens – and when that is done, it has to be done correctly,” Pilate said. |
| The Associated Press in St Louis contributed to this report | The Associated Press in St Louis contributed to this report |