LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – An attorney for Arkansas says it is “highly unlikely” the state will obtain new execution drugs and schedule dates to put inmates to death before a trial over its lethal injection method next spring.
U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker granted the state’s request Friday to delay a trial challenging the state’s use of midazolam, a sedative used in executions that a group of death row inmates claim couldn’t render them unconscious and might expose them to excruciating pain.
The trial was originally scheduled for November. It’s been moved to April 2019.
In a brief hearing before Baker, Senior Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Merritt noted that prison officials have previously said they won’t seek new execution drugs until the Legislature adds manufacturers to a law that keeps Arkansas’ source of execution drugs secret.
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