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Arkansas cannot use drug needed for any scheduled executions, judge rules
Source: The Guardian and agencies
Arkansas cannot use drug needed for any scheduled executions, judge rules
• Judge upends entire plan as state races to use drugs before they expire
• Additional court ruling cancels execution planned for Thursday
Staff and Agencies
Thursday 20 April 2017 01.24 BST
Arkansas suffered two more legal setbacks Wednesday in its unprecedented plan to carry out multiple executions this month when the state supreme court halted one and a judge later ruled that the state cannot use one of its drugs in any executions.
While both of Wednesday’s rulings could be overturned, Arkansas now faces an uphill battle to execute any inmates before the end of April, when another of its drugs expires.
The state originally planned to carry out eight executions to occur over an 11-day period in April, which would have been the most by a state in such a compressed period since the US supreme court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. But Arkansas has faced a wave of legal challenges, and the latest ruling from Pulaski County circuit judge Alice Gray upends the entire schedule.
“Irreparable harm will result. Harm that could not be addressed by (monetary) damages,” Gray said in a ruling from the bench, siding with the medical supply company McKesson Corp, which sued to stop its drug, vecuronium bromide, being used to kill condemned inmates. The company argued that it would suffer harm financially and to its reputation if the executions were carried out.
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• Judge upends entire plan as state races to use drugs before they expire
• Additional court ruling cancels execution planned for Thursday
Staff and Agencies
Thursday 20 April 2017 01.24 BST
Arkansas suffered two more legal setbacks Wednesday in its unprecedented plan to carry out multiple executions this month when the state supreme court halted one and a judge later ruled that the state cannot use one of its drugs in any executions.
While both of Wednesday’s rulings could be overturned, Arkansas now faces an uphill battle to execute any inmates before the end of April, when another of its drugs expires.
The state originally planned to carry out eight executions to occur over an 11-day period in April, which would have been the most by a state in such a compressed period since the US supreme court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. But Arkansas has faced a wave of legal challenges, and the latest ruling from Pulaski County circuit judge Alice Gray upends the entire schedule.
“Irreparable harm will result. Harm that could not be addressed by (monetary) damages,” Gray said in a ruling from the bench, siding with the medical supply company McKesson Corp, which sued to stop its drug, vecuronium bromide, being used to kill condemned inmates. The company argued that it would suffer harm financially and to its reputation if the executions were carried out.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/19/arkansas-halts-execution-stacey-johnson
