Asa Hutchinson said Wednesday that he hopes to set execution dates before January now that the state has a new supply of a lethal injection drug that had expired last month. And a spokesman for the department said that the state’s supply of the other two drugs – midazolam and potassium bromide – doesn’t expire until January 2017 and April 2017, respectively.
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Capital punishment by lethal injection is legal in Arkansas, but challenges to the law have tied up authorities’ efforts to press forward with executions for the 34 inmates now on death row there.
The state Supreme Court upheld the secrecy law earlier this year, but executions can not be scheduled until the justices deny the inmates’ request. The court upheld the secrecy law less than a month ago, but the ruling won’t take effect unless the justices deny the inmates’ request for a rehearing. The last execution in the state took place in 2005.
The Arkansas Department of Correction said Tuesday it has acquired a new supply of a drug for use in executions after its previous supply expired last month.
The inmates also have asked the court to stay the mandate in the execution secrecy case if their request for a rehearing is denied, saying they also planned to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the case.
The inmates’ attorneys argue that there are several questions of federal law concerning the case. Gross requires challengers of the state’s execution law to find their own execution-method alternatives.
“This court has not concluded that the prisoners did not present valid constitutional claims”, she wrote.
Jeff Rosenzweig, an attorney for the inmates, said he wasn’t aware of the state’s announcement until he was contacted by The Associated Press and did not have an immediate comment.
Once the mandate is issued, Deere said, Rutledge will notify Hutchinson that the eight inmates can be scheduled to die.
Arkansas wasn’t able to acquire new batches of the drugs that are actually used to kill inmates, potassium chloride and midazolam.
To make it easier for prison officials to obtain a supply of the life-taking chemicals, state lawmakers passed Act 1096 of 2015.
Another challenge to lethal injections in the state – this one aimed at the protocol used in carrying them out – was also struck down in 2015 by a 4-3 ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court. A group of death row inmates argued that the law violated a previous agreement to share information and that shielding the drugs’ contents from public scrutiny could lead to cruel and unusual punishment.
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In December, Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen ruled that the nondisclosure components of the law were unconstitutional, but his decision was overturned by the Supreme Court on appeal by the state.
