(AP) – The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by
Arkansas inmates to stop their executions over claims that their deaths would be
“intolerably painful.”
The nine inmates asked the justices to review an Arkansas Supreme Court
decision upholding a law that keeps secret the source of the lethal injection
drugs. Justices on Tuesday handed down decisions in the Arkansas case, plus
several other death row cases nationwide.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge says she will ask Gov. Asa
Hutchinson to set execution dates for the inmates whose appeals have been
exhausted.
Arkansas has not executed an inmate since 2005 because of legal challenges and
the difficulty of obtaining execution drugs. One of Arkansas’ execution drugs
expired last month and an agency spokesman said Tuesday it had not acquired
additional doses.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI