USA - Arkansas. Judge Wendell Griffen temporarily blocks executions

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen temporarily blocks executions in Arkansas. A group of death row inmates won a court judgment today that temporarily blocks executions and says the state Legislature gave too much authority to the Correction Department when it designated the agency director as the person who picks the drug for lethal injections. Appeals to state Supreme Court likely.A law passed last year (see Feb. 20, 2013) specified that the state kill inmates by using a barbiturate but did not specify which one. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen ruled from the bench after an hour-long hearing, granting the request by nine death row inmates and ensuring the state can't conduct an execution as the matter continues to wind through the courts. Arkansas, which has no scheduled executions and has not executed an inmate since 2005, is among a number of states that are weighing changes to execution methods amid other inmate lawsuits. In a statement issued later Friday, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said he will appeal the decision. The Legislature passed the new execution law last year after the Arkansas Supreme Court threw out a 2009 law, also on grounds that legislators gave too much discretion to the Correction Department. Last year, the Arkansas Correction Department said it had chosen Phenobarbital as its execution drug but later reversed that decision.