LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) _ A seventh member of the Arkansas Supreme Court now faces ethics charges over the court’s decision to prohibit a judge who participated in an anti-death penalty demonstration from handling any execution-related cases.
A Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission panel formally filed charges Thursday against Justice Shawn Womack of Mountain Home over the court’s handling of the case involving Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen, who was photographed lying on a cot outside the governor’s mansion the same day he blocked Arkansas from using an execution drug last year.
The panel filed charges against the other six members of the court over the Griffen case last month.
The panel says the court never gave Griffen notice or an opportunity to be heard over his removal from death penalty cases.
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