"Mediation ordered in Idaho execution policy suit," is the AP post, via CBS News.
A federal judge has ordered mediation talks between Idaho prison officials and more than a dozen news organizations that are challenging a policy that limits public access to lethal injection executions.
U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge handed down the order Thursday, two days after The Associated Press and 16 other news organizations filed a lawsuit seeking to force the Idaho Department of Correction to let witnesses view the execution process from start to finish.
The lawsuit is not intended to obstruct the state's June 12 scheduled execution of convicted murderer Richard Leavitt. Instead, it focuses on a narrow section of the agency's execution protocol.
Like most states with lethal injection, Idaho's policy bars witnesses from watching as a condemned inmate is brought into the execution chamber, strapped to the table and has IVs inserted into his or her arms. The news organizations say reporters must be able to view executions from start to finish so they can accurately report the events — and any complications that may emerge — to the public.
Lodge's order requires the parties to quickly begin nonbinding mediation on or before June 1 under the supervision of Magistrate Judge Candy Dale.
"Any opportunity to mediate a case is a positive development for both parties," said Chuck Brown, the Lewiston attorney representing the news groups. "It avoids some of the uncertainty of how a third party, in this case a judge, might rule in the future."
Earlier coverage of the Idaho lawsuit begins at the link.
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