Missouri ordered to reveal pharmacies that supplied its execution drugs
Source: The Guardian
The Missouri department of corrections has been ordered to release the names of the two pharmacies from which it bought lethal drugs used in executions, dealing a significant blow to the shroud of secrecy that has been thrown around the death penalty in the state and beyond.
The final judgment of the circuit court of Cole County heavily criticises the Missouri prisons service for knowingly violating its duty to inform the public about the way it conducts the death penalty.
The judge ruled that the pharmacies involved could not be counted as part of the execution team, and thus offered protection from identification, and that as a result the state had to divulge the details of how it obtained pentobarbital for use in the death chamber.
For the past two years a group of media outlets led by the Guardian has argued in the Missouri courts that under the states own freedom of information or sunshine laws, the department of corrections was obliged to disclose the source of its lethal injection drugs.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/22/missouri-pharmacies-execution-drugs-death-penalty-lawsuit
Ed Pilkington
Tuesday 22 March 2016 15.48 GMT Last modified on Tuesday 22 March 2016 15.50 GMT