Steve Barnes reports for Reuters that the office of Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said yesterday the state now has drugs at the ready for use in lethal injections.
An Oklahoma inmate died of a heart attack 40 minutes after his execution was botched last night. Another execution was stayed as a result and you'd now hope Oklahoma officials will be forced to do some explaining for why they fought so hard in court to go forward with these executions despite questions about the sources of drugs to be used.
Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen today issued his written opinion on a decision he'd announced earlier from the bench that struck down a new Arkansas law on lethal injection as an unconstitutional delegation of power to the Correction Department.
The National Journal offers a long look at the troubled state of capital punishment in the U.S. thanks to the lack of acceptable drugs for the lethal injection process.
The line is open. Closing out:
* EXECUTION LAW CHALLENGED: A new state law specifying drugs to be used in executions still doesn't meet constitutional muster, inmates have argued in a new federal lawsuit.
Death Row inmates are pressing a claim — so far unrefuted — that states including Arkansas have relied on a virtually bootleg (and dubious) source for the chemical used in executions.