US court says Arkansas inmates can't have more appeal time

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     LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – A U.S. Supreme Court justice has denied a request for more time made by attorneys for nine Arkansas death row inmates challenging the state Supreme Court’s June ruling that upheld the state’s execution secrecy law and three-drug protocol.

     Associate Justice Samuel Alito denied the request for more time to file a petition at the federal high court Monday. A reason for the denial was not immediately given, but the petition will be due Oct. 19.

     Lawyers for the inmates, eight of whom had been scheduled for Arkansas’ first executions in a decade, asked for a 30-day extension.

     The Arkansas attorney general’s office argued in a filing last week that the extension was a means to delay executions long enough for one of the state’s lethal drugs to expire in January.

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