State’s death drug decision still on hold in courts

Execution drug manufacturer names still being withheld from death row inmates

Published: December 10, 2015

The manufacturers’ names of drugs used in Arkansas executions are continuing to be protected by the state.

Eight death row inmates with execution dates filed a lawsuit against the state to require it to reveal where the drugs were made and by whom. On Dec. 3 Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffin sided with the inmates and ordered the state to release the names of the drug manufacturers the next week. The state sought a temporary order from the Arkansas Supreme Court to protect the names and the high court agreed Dec. 4.

A state execution law makes it legal for the Department of Correction to conceal the source of the execution drugs. In June the state bought drugs valued at $24,226.40 for eight executions.

Lawyers for the state and inmates are supposed to submit written arguments to the state Supreme Court by Dec. 14.

The executions are on hold until the lawsuit can be heard.