Colorado Execution Protocol Update

"Judge right to require details of death penalty drugs," is an editorial from the Denver Post.

A judge's recent ruling will ensure that Coloradans know at least what kinds of drugs might be used to kill death row inmates in our state — though not necessarily where the drugs came from.

We applaud the ruling, although think it should have gone further.

The ruling from Denver District Judge Michael Mullins came after the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado sued the Department of Corrections because it refused to release information about how the execution of convicted murderer Nathan Dunlap would be carried out.

Gov. John Hickenlooper has given Dunlap a temporary reprieve, meaning the department no longer has to find the drug — sodium thiopental — in the near future. But the issue remained as to what the public had a right to know about the execution process.

Additional coverage of Colorado lethal injection issues begins at the link; also available, more recent news from Colorado.