A group of nine Arkansas death row inmates filed a formal challenge of the state's execution law with the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, just hours before the deadline to make their appeal.
EXECUTIONS: In-depth look at 4 men put to death in April + 3 others whose executions were stayed
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The appeal continues a hold on eight of the prisoners' executions while the high court reviews their case, and a final ruling could come as late as June, after two of the three drugs Arkansas uses in executions expires. The ninth prisoner has not yet been scheduled to die.
The Arkansas Supreme Court in June placed the hold on the executions to allow the inmates time to appeal the court's decision to uphold Arkansas' execution protocol.
In a petition with the U.S. high court -- time-stamped just before 2 p.m. -- lawyers for the prisoners asked the justices to revisit their 2015 decision upholding Oklahoma's use of Midazolam as one of three drugs in executions. The Arkansas Legislature approved the use of the sedative in 2015.
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Oklahoma case, Glossip v. Gross, said prisoners who allege that Midazolam amounts to cruel and unusual punishment by failing to block pain need to propose a known and available alternative.
In its decision to uphold the Arkansas law, the state Supreme Court said the prisoners had not provided a proper alternative because their proposals to use four other drugs or a firing squad are not allowed under Act 1096 of 2015.
The law allows for two methods of lethal injection: a single lethal supply of a barbiturate or a three-drug cocktail of Midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride. State law says that if those methods are struck down in court, the state should revert to the electric chair, which it used before adopting lethal injection in the 1970s.
The prisoners' challenge to the law says any of four drug methods -- anesthetic inhalant, a Food and Drug Administration-approved barbiturate, opioid injection or transdermal opioid patch -- would do a better job of blocking pain than Midazolam. They also argue that a firing squad is more humane than the electric chair.
Had the inmates missed the deadline, state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge would have asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to end the stay on executions, her spokesman Judd Deere said Wednesday.
"The attorney general will review the filing today and will respond appropriately," Deere said.
In late September, Jeff Rosenzweig, the lead attorney for the inmates while they challenged the law in state court, asked for a 30-day extension to file, but U.S. Justice Samuel Alito denied the request. Alito oversees such motions for the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Arkansas.
In addition to Rosenzweig, two federal public defenders in Arkansas are listed as attorneys for the prisoners in the appeal: Jenniffer Horan and John C. Williams. Rosenzweig said earlier this month that he had enlisted the help of the Washington, D.C., law firm Venable LLP free of charge.
Venable attorney Meredith Boylan is listed as the counsel of record on the U.S. Supreme Court petition, along with George Kostolampros.
The prisoners challenging the law are Stacey Johnson, Jason McGehee, Bruce Ward, Terrick Nooner, Jack Jones, Marcel Williams, Kenneth Williams, Don Davis and Ledell Lee.
Arkansas has not executed a prisoner since 2005 because of legal challenges and difficulties obtaining the execution drugs.
Metro on 10/20/2016