Lethal drugs’ lid closed by high court

On state’s second try, justices stay label-disclosure order

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a lower court from ordering the state Department of Correction to release information about its execution drug supply, an about-face in the legal battle to reveal information about the deadly concoction.

Less than 24 hours before, the high court on Monday had dismissed a similar appeal by state attorneys hoping to stay Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen’s ruling to release documents that provided details about a new supply of potassium chloride that the Department of Correction has sought to keep secret.

A hundred vials of the drug were obtained by the department last month, with plans to use the drug to stop the hearts of eight inmates whose executions have been set by Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The executions are scheduled to be carried out between April 17 and 27.

Griffen ordered that unredacted labels and package inserts for the drugs be released to Steven Shults, a Little

Rock attorney who filed suit after the Department of Correction declined his request for the documents under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.

In response to Shults and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which has filed a similar records request, prisons officials have said they will no longer release labels or inserts because the records have been used previously by news organizations to identify the drug suppliers.

The newspaper is not involved in Shults’ lawsuit.

Shults’ attorneys have said he is a concerned citizen who wants to ensure that the Department of Correction follows the law in obtaining its execution drugs.

The Supreme Court decision makes it doubtful that the state can be compelled to release records on the drugs before they are to be used on the inmates, according to Shults’ attorney, Heather Zachary.

A spokesman for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge lauded the ruling.

“Arkansas law requires the Department of Correction to keep confidential all information that may lead to the identification of those who test, sell or supply the drug or drugs used in the execution process,” spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement. “Attorney General Rutledge is pleased that the State Supreme Court acted quickly to stay the lower court’s ruling while the appeal proceeds.”

In court filings, the state has argued that it has had difficulties obtaining the three drugs, including potassium chloride, that are needed according to the standard established under the Method of Execution Act.

The 2015 law specifically allows for the release of drug labels and package inserts. However, The Associated Press used those documents last year to match the origins of one of the drugs with a subsidiary of Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company that has objected to the use of its products in executions.

After Griffen handed down his initial order on Thursday evening, the Department of Correction supplied a redacted copy of the drug labels and a unredacted copy of the package inserts, according to court filings.

Zachary said that did not satisfy Shults’ request. She said her team will continue to seek the unredacted copies, even in the event the executions are carried out.

The Supreme Court justices did not issue an opinion explaining their decision Tuesday.

In addition to issuing the stay, the order indicated that Justice Shawn Womack would have ordered Shults to return the copies given to him by the department and would have prohibited him from releasing the information.

Womack and Justice Rhonda Wood dissented from the court’s decision Monday, which dismissed an earlier motion for a stay because Rutledge’s office had failed to provide a copy of Griffen’s written order to the high court.

Almost immediately after the Supreme Court’s ruling Monday, the attorney general’s office announced plans to mount another attempt.

Before filing an 11-page petition with the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning, the Department of Correction was ordered to appear in Griffen’s courtroom at 9 a.m. today for a contempt of court hearing for refusing to release the documents.

Griffen ordered department officials to arrive with unredacted copies of the documents. However, the Supreme Court’s stay canceled the hearing in Griffen’s courtroom.

Instead, state prison system Director Wendy Kelley will appear at a nearby federal court in Little Rock to testify in an ongoing lawsuit seeking to put a pause on the executions.

The 2015 law specifically allows for the release of drug labels and package inserts. However, The Associated Press used those documents last year to match the origins of one of the drugs with a subsidiary of Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company that has objected to the use of its products in executions.