USA - Arkansas. Judge Griffen ordered the state to release information about its supply chain for lethal injection drugs

Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Wendell Griffen ordered the state to release information about its supply chain for lethal injection drugs to attorneys for death row inmates who are challenging the state's execution secrecy law. Judge Griffen said the state must identify the manufacturer, distributor, seller and supplier of Arkansas' three lethal injections drugs by Oct. 21. That would include turning over package inserts, shipping labels, laboratory test results and other information to the court and the inmates' attorneys. Or the state may submit a request for a protective order for the drug manufacturer and supplier information, Griffen said. It will be up to the state attorney general to decide what's included in that request. The office could ask Griffen to uphold the state's secrecy law as it's written, which requires information about the source of the drugs to be kept under wraps. It could also ask that if the source is shared with the inmates' attorneys, they be barred from releasing it to anyone else. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge "is considering her options," according to Judd Deere, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, which is representing the Department of Correction in the lawsuit. Griffen temporarily halted executions for 9 inmates who were scheduled for lethal injections from Oct. 21 through Jan. 14 in a ruling Friday. His order Monday also set a March 1 hearing date for the inmates' request to permanently halt executions under the state's secrecy law.