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There’s A Standoff Between States And The Feds Over Illegal Execution Drugs
It’s been nearly a year since the federal government seized thousands of vials of lethal injection drugs on their way to death penalty states. The states want their drugs, and neither side is showing signs of backing down.
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Arkansas Supreme Court Says Transparency In Executions Would Be ‘Detrimental To The Process’
The state supreme court ruled against death row inmates, finding the state had no obligation to publicly disclose the drug supplier, and upheld the state’s execution protocol.
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Scathing Oklahoma Grand Jury Report Showcased Issues Common In Death Penalty States
The grand jury said extreme secrecy employed by state employees “contributed greatly” to execution mistakes. But the problems highlighted in Oklahoma have been raised in many states with the death penalty.
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Oklahoma Grand Jury Issues Critical Report After Execution Mistakes
A grand jury began investigating Oklahoma’s death penalty methods after multiple botched execution attempts. The jury issued a lengthy critical report, but no one will be indicted for the mistakes.
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Arkansas Supreme Court Considers Execution Transparency
Several years ago, the state agreed to disclose where it gets its execution drugs. Then the legislature changed the law, making that information confidential.
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Arizona Won’t Be Carrying Out Executions Before Its Drugs Expire
Arizona had tried to speed up a legal challenge to its execution methods before its drugs expire at the end of the month. But a federal judge said some of the death row inmates’ concerns are valid.
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Alabama Execution Halted After Supreme Court Allows Lower Court Order To Stand
Vernon Madison was scheduled to be put to death Thursday, but a federal appeals court put the execution on hold due to concerns that he is not competent to be executed. The Supreme Court, on a 4-4 vote, later denied Alabama’s request to lift the stay of execution.
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State Judge Strikes Down New Florida Death Penalty Law
“[W]e insist,” Judge Milton Hirsch writes, that decisions of life and death “reflect the will of all rather than the will of the few or even the many.”
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Georgia Executes Man Who Killed Two Children And Their Father
Daniel Anthony Lucas and an accomplice killed two children and their father as part of a burglary in 1998. The accomplice was executed in 2010.
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Pharmacy That Mixed Executions Drugs Is Being Sold After Admitting Numerous Violations
A small compounding pharmacy in Oklahoma sold execution drugs for at least three Missouri executions. When investigators later inspected the pharmacy, they found “significant” problems, and it later defaulted on its bank loans.
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Oklahoma Officials Told Of Execution Drug Mix-Up Months Earlier Than Previously Known
The Department of Corrections had reason to know it used the wrong drug in one execution in 2015 well before it obtained — and almost used — the same wrong drug for another execution later that same year.
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Georgia Executes Man For 1996 Murder Despite Juror’s Racist Statement
Kenneth Fults had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his execution after racist comments were made by a juror after the trial.
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Georgia Executes Man For 1994 Murder
Joshua Bishop was executed for beating a man to death in an attempt to take his car keys.
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Missouri Didn’t Follow Audit, Eliminated Safeguard For Execution Cash Payments
Following a critical audit of the execution payment process, rather than begin complying with a key anti-fraud rule, the Department of Corrections simply eliminated it.
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Internal Emails Raise Questions About Oklahoma Corrections Head’s Resignation
Within the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, emails regarding then-Director Robert Patton’s resignation announcement suggest the grand jury investigation into execution mistakes could have played more of a role than officials have said publicly.
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After Failed Execution Attempt, Ohio Can Try Again
Ohio spent two hours trying to insert an IV on Romell Broom in 2009 before calling off his execution. On Wednesday, the Ohio Supreme Court said the state can try again.
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Nebraska Seeks Refund For Illegal Execution Drugs It Never Got, Supplier Refuses
The state paid $26,700 for execution drugs from a man in India without a pharmaceutical background. As BuzzFeed News reported, the drugs would be illegal to import, and stood little chance of getting in the country.
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Justice Clarence Thomas Just Asked His First Question In A Decade
The conservative justice hasn’t quizzed lawyers before the Supreme Court during oral arguments since February 2006.
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Arizona To Death Row Inmates: You Don’t Have A Right To Go Viral
Arizona inmates are asking that the state not use a paralytic in their executions so witnesses can see the pain they may feel. The state says they are trying to create a “spectacle” and have no First Amendment right to “go viral.”
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Georgia Executes Man For Killing Fellow Navy Sailor
Travis Hittson was put to death Wednesday evening for killing a man in 1992. It was the state’s second execution this year.
