"In Most States, Execution Drugs Are Surrounded By Secrecy," is an extensive review by the Associated Press writers Jim Salter and Andrew Welsh-Huggins, via Huffington Post. It's also available from the Southeast Missourian. Here's the beginning:
Dating to the days when the guillotine operator or the hangman wore a mask, a certain amount of anonymity has always surrounded executions. But that secrecy is increasingly coming under fire, with judges, death penalty opponents and lawyers questioning why so little can be known about a state's most solemn responsibility.
An Associated Press survey of the 32 death penalty states found that the vast majority refuse to disclose the source of their execution drugs. The states cloaked in secrecy include some with the most active death chambers — among them Texas, Florida, Oklahoma and Missouri.
Most states have recently begun relying on loosely regulated "compounding pharmacies" for execution drugs but refuse to name them, citing concerns about backlash that could endanger the supplier's safety. But many states refuse to provide even more basic information — how much of the drug is on hand, the expiration date, how it is tested. Those who question the secrecy wonder how an inmate's constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment can be guaranteed if nothing is known about the drug being used to kill him.
"As far as we know, it could be coming from a veterinary source, it could be coming from some dark corner of the Internet," said Cheryl Pilate, a Kansas City, Mo., attorney who handles death row appeals. "We simply don't know."
"Glance: Execution drug secrecy in 5 states," is an AP sidebar, via the Washington Post.
An Associated Press survey of the nation’s 32 death penalty states found that the vast majority refuse to disclose the source of their execution drugs. Some states with laws shielding information about execution drugs and policies and the challenges to those laws:
"Judge: Lawsuit on Missouri executions may continue." is also by AP's Jim Salter, via the Southeast Missourian.
A federal judge is allowing a lawsuit to move forward that challenges Missouri's refusal to provide the name of the pharmacy where it acquired the drug for executions.
U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips on Thursday denied a motion from the Missouri Department of Corrections to dismiss a lawsuit filed in October by the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri. The ACLU lawsuit questions a state statute that prohibits identifying members of the execution team.
At issue is Missouri's refusal to provide the name of the compounding pharmacy that makes pentobarbital for executions. The state considers the pharmacy to be part of the execution team and won't say who makes the drug.
"Since we filed this lawsuit, five people have been killed by the state of Missouri in a procedure that has been shrouded in secrecy," Jeffrey A. Mittman, the ACLU-Missouri's executive director, said in a statement. "Decisions by the Department of Corrections about how to execute must be transparent and open to debate. This secrecy is an effort to avoid public scrutiny."
"Lawyers for 2 Oklahoma death row inmates scheduled to die this month to seek execution stays," is by Bailey Elise McBride of AP, via the Greenfield Reporter.
Lawyers for two Oklahoma death-row inmates say they believe they will be successful in their challenge to the state's execution law, despite adverse U.S. Supreme Court rulings for condemned men from Missouri and Texas.
Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner sued the state of Oklahoma in February over what they called a "veil of secrecy" surrounding execution protocols and the origins of the drugs used in lethal injections. Although the state has released the method of execution it intends to use, the lawyers want to know where the drugs are coming from and who will be testing them to ensure efficacy and purity.
Recent cases in Missouri and Texas also seeking information on drug suppliers were not taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court, though lawyers for Lockett and Warner aren't concerned because they're not pursuing claims in federal court.
"We're in a unique situation here because we only have state law claims," said Seth Day, one of the inmates' lawyers.
Lethal injection drug secrecy was a topic on MSNBC's Saturday Melissa Harris-Perry program. There is video at the link.
Earlier coverage from Missouri and Oklahoma, at the links. Related posts are in the lethal injection category index.
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