Judge: Georgia can keep execution drug provider secret

Source: Associated Press

Judge: Georgia can keep execution drug provider secret

Kate Brumback, Associated Press

Updated 3:51 pm, Friday, October 21, 2016

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia doesn't have to reveal information about its execution drug to two Mississippi death row inmates, a federal judge in Atlanta has ruled.

The inmates, Richard Jordan and Ricky Chase, sought the information as part of a legal challenge to Mississippi's three-drug execution protocol. U.S. District Judge J. Clay Fuller wrote in an order Thursday that Georgia law prohibits the release of the information and granted the state's request to quash the inmates' subpoena.

Jim Craig, an attorney for Jordan and Chase, said Friday they are still reviewing their options and considering what steps to take next.

The inmates say Mississippi's three-drug method is torturous and unconstitutionally cruel, and they question why that state doesn't adopt a one-drug execution method as other states, including Georgia, Missouri and Texas, have done. They have sought details about how those states obtained execution drugs to meet their legal burden of showing there's a known, available alternative.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Judge-Georgia-can-keep-execution-drug-provider-10045071.php