Expert says Arkansas may have reliable source of execution drug
LITTLE ROCK—A death penalty expert says Arkansas’ recent purchase of a lethal injection drug—in a small amount and at a cheap price—suggests the state has found a reliable supplier to help it move 30 inmates from death row to the execution chamber.
The state Department of Correction said Thursday it had paid $250 in cash to buy enough midazolam for use in two executions. A heavily redacted hand-written receipt shows the material was picked up in person on Aug. 4.
“The $250 would lead me to believe they aren’t buying from someone trying to benefit from a shortage,” said Jen Moreno, a staff attorney with the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California Law School at Berkeley.
With such a relatively small amount purchased—40 vials—“maybe they have found a source,” she said Friday.
The prison system isn’t saying, citing state secrecy laws.
“The Department is declining to address your characterizations of its suppliers. However, we remain confident in our ability to carry out these sentences once a warrant is issued,” spokesman Solomon Graves said in an email Friday.
Arkansas purchased midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride in bulk in 2015, spending $24,226 to buy enough of the chemicals to put eight inmates to death. The approaching expiration of its midazolam supply this spring led Gov. Asa Hutchinson to schedule eight executions in an 11-day period in April.
If the state has a supplier willing to provide Arkansas with drugs on an as-needed basis, the need to buy in bulk is gone.
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge wrote to Hutchinson in February, shortly after a set of condemned killers lost a final set of appeals at the U.S. Supreme Court. Hutchinson set four double-executions about a week before the prison system said it had a complete set of drugs.
Inmate Jack Greene lost his final appeal May 1, just after Arkansas finished carrying out four executions in eight
by the park are met, no group wishing to assemble lawfully will be discriminated against or denied the right of assembly,” she said.
“The safety of our employees and our visitors is our top priority. We are engaged with local, county and state officials in event planning to provide for public safety during permitted demonstrations,” she said.
Fernandez said park personnel will be present at the demonstration to ensure the conditions of the permit are met, as they have done in the past.
City Manager David Frasher said Thursday the city of Hot Springs has collaborated with the Park Service, the Garland County Sheriff ’s Department and Arkansas State Police to develop a “very comprehensive” response plan to today’s planned demonstration.
“We’re very determined to avoid a Charlottesville tragedy here in Hot Springs,” Frasher said, adding they are “leaving nothing to chance.”
“We will be devoting additional resources and assets to ensure a safe event,” Hot Springs Police Chief Jason Stachey said Thursday. “We will not tolerate violence or the intentional destruction of property in any shape or form. Those individuals that intend to promote or engage in violent or destructive acts will face immediate criminal charges.”
Fernandez said violent activity referenced by Stachey is not protected by the Constitution.
“From the National Park Service point of view, it is our duty to not abridge people’s constitutional rights, and we have an obligation to manage the time and the place,” she said.
“Basically, free speech is protected no matter what the content is. What is not protected is going and bashing somebody in the head, that sort of thing,” she said. “Speech, no matter what, is protected, no matter if you agree with it or not.”
Fernandez said she has been asked why she is allowing the demonstration to take place on federal land.
“Because we live in freedom, guaranteed by the Constitution and which cannot be abridged by the government,” she said.
“Having lived under oppression (in Cuba) I’m thankful and grateful that I now live with freedom of expression and all the responsibilities that go with it. I hope my actions demonstrate how much I truly believe this to be so,” she said.
Fernandez said the decision to allow demonstrations was “made a long time ago,” and the violence in Charlottesville did not have any impact on the decision.
“Issuing a permit is not an endorsement of the content being expressed,” she said.
“I don’t have to like it; I’m not saying in one way or another that I like what’s going on,” she said. “It’s really important that people understand that this is what the Constitution guarantees.”