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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOhio Republicans push law to keep all details of executions secret
Source: The Guardian
Ohio Republicans push law to keep all details of executions secret
Ed Pilkington in New York
theguardian.com, Saturday 29 November 2014 14.59 GMT
Republican lawmakers in Ohio are rushing through the most extreme secrecy bill yet attempted by a death penalty state, which would withhold information on every aspect of the execution process from the public, media and even the courts.
Legislators are trying to force through the bill, HB 663, in time for the states next scheduled execution, on 11 February. Were the bill on the books by then, nothing about the planned judicial killing of convicted child murderer Ronald Phillips from the source of the drugs used to kill him and the distribution companies that transport the chemicals, to the identities of the medical experts involved in the death chamber would be open to public scrutiny of any sort.
Unlike other death penalty states that have shrouded procedures in secrecy, the Ohio bill seeks to bar even the courts from access to essential information. Attorneys representing death-row inmates, for instance, would no longer be able to request disclosure under court protection of the identity and qualifications of medical experts who advised the state on their techniques.
This bill is trying to do an end run around the courts. When things arent going well, the state is making its actions secret because they dont want people to see them screwing up, said Mike Brickner, senior policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Ohio.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Ed Pilkington in New York
theguardian.com, Saturday 29 November 2014 14.59 GMT
Republican lawmakers in Ohio are rushing through the most extreme secrecy bill yet attempted by a death penalty state, which would withhold information on every aspect of the execution process from the public, media and even the courts.
Legislators are trying to force through the bill, HB 663, in time for the states next scheduled execution, on 11 February. Were the bill on the books by then, nothing about the planned judicial killing of convicted child murderer Ronald Phillips from the source of the drugs used to kill him and the distribution companies that transport the chemicals, to the identities of the medical experts involved in the death chamber would be open to public scrutiny of any sort.
Unlike other death penalty states that have shrouded procedures in secrecy, the Ohio bill seeks to bar even the courts from access to essential information. Attorneys representing death-row inmates, for instance, would no longer be able to request disclosure under court protection of the identity and qualifications of medical experts who advised the state on their techniques.
This bill is trying to do an end run around the courts. When things arent going well, the state is making its actions secret because they dont want people to see them screwing up, said Mike Brickner, senior policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Ohio.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/29/ohio-republicans-law-details-executions-secret
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Ohio Republicans push law to keep all details of executions secret (Original Post)
Eugene
Nov 2014
OP
Republicans - Abolishing All Facts From Memory - Judgment, Incarceration, Death - All In Secret
cantbeserious
Nov 2014
#1
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)1. Republicans - Abolishing All Facts From Memory - Judgment, Incarceration, Death - All In Secret
eom
RiverLover
(7,830 posts)2. Ohio is now an honorary Southern Red State
This along with an oil industry-controlled govt and the end of legal abortion clinics.
But hey, its so impressive we're bad enough to make the UK Guardian! woohoo...
pampango
(24,692 posts)3. "The death penalty is a good thing. And we want to hide it
as much as possible." = republican logic.
RiverLover
(7,830 posts)4. kick