Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Wednesday that he wants the state to execute death-row inmates before one of the drugs that would be used expires in January.
EXECUTIONS: In-depth look at 4 men put to death in April + 3 others whose executions were stayed
Click here for larger versions
The governor, in Berlin to open an economic development office, spoke by telephone to reporters at the state Capitol a day after prison officials announced they acquired a new supply of vecuronium bromide. That is one of the three drugs mandated by state law for use in executions, and the state's previous supply of that drug expired at the end of June.
But potassium chloride, another of the three drugs used in lethal injections, is set to expire Jan. 1, 2017, according to a prison spokesman. (Previous articles misstated the expiration date of the state's supply of potassium chloride.) The third drug, midazolam, expires in April 2017. The new supply of vecuronium bromide expires March 1, 2018.
Arkansas hasn't executed a prisoner since 2005 because of a series of legal challenges as well as a shortage of execution drugs.
In the telephone news conference, Hutchinson cautioned that before he can set execution dates, he must follow a process, one contingent upon getting a request from the state attorney general. And the attorney general's request cannot be made until the Arkansas Supreme Court issues a mandate enforcing its June 23 ruling that the execution law is constitutional.
"I certainly would expect to set dates before January, absolutely," Hutchinson said. "It's been way too long and painful for the victims and their families, and so we would set the dates without any undue delay. ... It's my job as chief executive to faithfully execute the laws."
The Arkansas Supreme Court reversed a December 2015 finding by a Pulaski County circuit judge who found unconstitutional parts of the execution law that prohibit the public disclosure of the supplier of the state's source of drugs.
But attorneys for the plaintiffs -- nine death-row inmates, eight of whom had previously had their executions scheduled by Hutchinson -- have filed a petition for a rehearing with the state's high court.
That request for a rehearing, if granted by the high court, would further delay the executions.
If the high court were to deny the request for a rehearing, the inmates' attorneys have indicated they would take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judd Deere, a spokesman for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, said his office is aware that one of the drugs is set to expire in January but at the moment, Rutledge can only wait for the high court's mandate.
In 2015, lawmakers redid the state's execution law, adding language that protected the identity of drug vendors from the public.
According to advocates for the changes, such language is used by other states and was needed in Arkansas because drug companies are leery of a public backlash from anti-death-penalty groups.
On Wednesday, Hutchinson said the new supply of vecuronium bromide was a direct result of the 2015 law.
"I was encouraged that the legislative passage of the confidentiality law had the desired effect and increased the opportunities for the supply," Hutchison said.
It was that privacy language that led Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen to deem the state law unconstitutional in December. The Supreme Court reversed him last month in a 4-3 ruling.
Attorneys for the inmates challenged the constitutionality of Act 1096 of 2015 shortly after it was enacted and, after Hutchinson set executions dates in September, the attorneys asked Griffen to stay the executions pending their challenge.
The inmates argued that one of the drugs, midazolam, could lead to a painful or even botched execution, which they contended would qualify as "cruel or unusual" punishment and thus was unconstitutional. They also contended that their rights to due process were violated by the secrecy provision of the state's execution law.
Information for this article was contributed by Brian Fanney of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 07/14/2016