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Judge: Arkansas Too Secretive About Execution Procedures

bpfna.org
Judge Griffen believes Arkansas is too quiet about their use of lethal injections

A judge says Arkansas is being too secretive about part of its execution procedures ahead of an unprecedented schedule of lethal injections and must disclose more information about the drugs it intends to use.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen found that state confidentiality laws apply to sellers and suppliers, not pharmaceutical companies.

He gave the state 30 minutes to hand the information over to a lawyer for the inmates.

Prison officials who want to execute eight inmates in a 10-day period next month had refused to release packing slips that detail how the drugs are to be used. The Associated Press has previously used the labels to identify drugmakers whose products would be used in executions against their will. The prison system has promised its suppliers anonymity.

Lawyer Steven Shults has said he wants the package inserts to ensure the inmates are put to death as humanely as possible.