Recent problems with executions in Oklahoma are starting to affect death row inmates in other states.
An Arkansas judge has halted the executions of eight death row inmates, dealing a blow to the state's efforts to begin putting prisoners to death for the first time in a decade.
Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Wendell Griffen's ruling Friday came in a case in which the inmates are challenging a new Arkansas law allowing the state to withhold any information that could publicly identify the manufacturers or sellers of its execution drugs.
Attorneys representing the Arkansas inmates cited troubles in neighboring Oklahoma as they urged Griffen to halt the executions.
A court filing Thursday drew attention to the case of Oklahoma inmate Charles Warner, who was executed in January. Oklahoma prison officials said they used potassium chloride as the final drug in the lethal injection, but a newly released autopsy report shows that potassium acetate was used instead.
A lawyer for the inmates argued Arkansas' new secrecy law put them at risk of enduring unconstitutional suffering during their executions because the drugs' safety and effectiveness couldn't be vetted. He also said the state agreed in a prior settlement to reveal the drug information to the inmates before their executions.
