A judge is considering whether to release documents detailing efforts by the Arkansas Department of Correction to purchase lethal-injection drugs after hearing arguments Monday morning.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Collins Kilgore spent about 20 minutes in chambers after the hearing before returning to the courtroom and saying he needed more time to consider the arguments. It wasn't clear when he would issue a ruling.
An attorney for death row inmates Stacey Johnson, Jack Jones, Jason McGehee, Bruce Ward, Kenneth Williams, and Marcel Williams requested the information be released under the Freedom of Information Act. Attorney Jeff Rosenzweig filed a lawsuit last week after the department denied the request, citing an exemption in the law.
A deputy director for the Department of Correction responsible for obtaining the drugs described the documents in question as email exchanges detailing efforts to set up an account to buy the drugs.
Assistant Attorney General David Curran, who represented the department in the hearing, said some companies have refused to provide lethal injection drugs after their names became public because of pressure from "anti death-penalty" groups.