"Louisiana appeals order to release execution drug source," is the AP report by Melinda Deslatte, via the Alexandria Town Talk.
Rather than release the seller and manufacturer of Louisiana's execution drugs, state corrections officials notified a federal judge Tuesday that they were asking an appeals court to overturn his disclosure order.
U.S. District Judge James Brady had ruled that the corrections department must reveal by this week the information about where it obtained its two lethal injection drugs.
Instead of filing the information, a lawyer for the Department of Corrections and the Louisiana State Penitentiary filed a notice of appeal and asked to keep the information secret while the appeal is pending.
Attorney James Hilburn described the judge's order as "an abuse of discretion."
Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc and state prison Warden Burl Cain have argued that if they identify how they're getting the drugs, they could have trouble buying more because companies don't want to be known as helping facilitate an execution.
The Lens posts, "State appeals judge’s order to reveal source of lethal injection drug." by Della Hasselle.
Lawyers for the state Department of Corrections haven’t complied with a federal judge’s order to disclose information about the source of Louisiana’s lethal injection drugs, instead asking an appeals court to reverse the decision.
Lawyers representing a convicted child-killer on death row responded Tuesday, saying this “is simply the latest effort by the Defendants to shroud their lethal injection protocol in secrecy.”
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge James Brady ordered the state to reveal the manufacturer and source of the lethal injection drugs that officials plan to use in execution.
Earlier coverage of the Louisiana lethal injection challenge begins at the link.
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