That's the title of an Associated Press breaking news report filed by Bailey Elise McBride, via the Oklahoman. It's also available from the Tulsa World.
An Oklahoma judge ruled the state's execution law unconstitutional Wednesday because its privacy provision is so strict that it that prevents inmates from finding out the source of drugs used in executions, even through the courts.
After an Ohio inmate gasped while dying and an Oklahoma prisoner complained that he felt his body burning, inmates Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner had wanted to know who was making the drugs that would kill them next month and whether the material was pure.
However, under Oklahoma law, no one is allowed to disclose the source of those drugs — even if an inmate sues and wants the information as part of the discovery process. Oklahoma County District Judge Patricia Parrish said that prevents the inmates from exercising their rights under the Constitution.
"I think that the secrecy statute is a violation of due process because access to the courts has been denied," Parrish ruled.
Attorneys for Charles Warner and Clayton Lockett in Response to State District Court Ruling Finding Oklahoma's Secrecy Statute Unconstitutional have issued the following statement:
“Today, Judge Patricia Parrish in Oklahoma City ruled that Oklahoma's secrecy statute is unconstitutional because it denies prisoners facing execution access to the courts. This decision is an important step towards greater transparency and accountability in Oklahoma's execution system.
‘We hope that no execution will go forward until the state reveals full information about the source of its execution drugs, particularly in light of the new, controversial protocol it unveiled last week, which lists five different methods, four of which appear to require the use of non-FDA approved compounded medicines and two of which are highly experimental.
‘Particularly in light of that new protocol, we are considering all available legal remedies, including an appeal to the Oklahoma Supreme Court of the claims, denied in today's ruling, that the protocol need not comply with the public notice and hearing requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act, and that the legislature delegated too much discretion to the Department of Corrections to determine execution procedures.”
The statement was made by Madeline Cohen, Assistant Federal Public Defender.
Reuters posts, "Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol unconstitutional: judge," by Heide Brandes.
County district court judge Patricia Parrish ruled that the state violated due process protections in the U.S. Constitution by not providing the name of the drug supplier, the combination of chemicals and the dosages used in implementing the death penalty.
The judgment comes as more states have trouble obtaining the lethal chemicals used in executions because of restrictions placed on their sale by drugmakers. It also strengthens the arguments made by lawyers that untested chemicals may could cause undo suffering.
The Oklahoma case was brought by lawyers for two inmates, Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner, who were due to be executed this month but their sentences were pushed back until April because the state said it could not obtain the drugs it has used for years in its lethal cocktail.
Earlier coverage of Oklahoma lethal injection issues begins at the link.
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