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 The decision puts back on track an execution scheduled for
Thursday evening that had been suspended temporarily earlier on
Wednesday by a federal judge in Houston, who found that Texas has
hidden information about the supplier of the drugs.
U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore ordered the state to disclose,
under seal, information regarding its execution drug, finding that
Texas had provided information about the process by which the
inmates would be executed and "masked information about the product
that will kill them."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said the case might
be different if the state were using a drug never before used or
unheard of, whose efficiency was completely unknown, which was not
the case.
"In sum, plaintiffs are speculating that the newly acquired
pentobarbital being supplied by a new compounder may be different
and may cause a risk of severe pain," the ruling said. "Speculation
is not enough."
The federal judge's decision was part of a series of recent court
rulings that have mandated states to release information about drugs
used for lethal injection, saying that keeping the information
secret violates due process protections of the U.S. Constitution.
Several states have struggled to obtain drugs for executions, while
many pharmaceutical companies, mostly in Europe, have imposed sales
bans because they object to having medications made for other
purposes used in lethal injections.
The appeals court lifted the temporary halt to the execution of
Tommy Lynn Sells on Thursday for the murder of a 13-year-old girl,
and Ramiro Hernandez whose execution was set for April 9 for a rape
and murder that took place in 1997.
SUPPLY OF EXECUTION DRUGS
Texas, which has executed more prisoners than any other state since
the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, said
last month it had obtained a new batch of the sedative
pentobarbital, without disclosing its supplier.
A Texas state judge ordered the department of corrections on March
27 to disclose the name of the supplier of drugs used in executions.
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Texas prison officials have so far refused, saying they want the
supplier to remain secret to protect it from possible harm. That
prompted lawyers for the two inmates to take the case to federal
court.
In neighboring Oklahoma, attorneys for two men scheduled to be put
to death this month will request a stay of execution, arguing the
state is not abiding by a court ruling compelling it to provide
information about lethal injection drugs.
The lawyers will raise objections to a hastily acquired batch of
chemicals Oklahoma said it obtained this week for the execution of
inmates Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner.
"The new protocol raises grave concerns about its safety and
efficacy," said Oklahoma attorney Madeline Cohen.
An Oklahoma judge ruled last month that the state's execution
procedures were unconstitutional because it did not provide to
inmates the name of the drug supplier, the combination of chemicals
and the dosages used in executions.
"The lawsuit involved the confidentiality statute in Oklahoma, not
about the drugs themselves," Diane Clay, a spokeswoman for the
Oklahoma attorney general, wrote in an email.
(Additional reporting by David Bailey in Minneappolis and Heide
Brandes in Oklahoma City; editing by Gunna Dickson, Bernard Orr)
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