Arkansas judge pulled from death penalty cases seeks investigation of AG's office, state Supreme Court

April 26, 2017 at 2:49 p.m.

by The Associated Press

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen, shown protesting at the Governor’s Mansion in April, said on his blog that he was portraying a crucified Jesus and that his hat covered “a black leather bound King James Version of the Bible, the book that my parents taught me to read and love as a child.”
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen, shown protesting at the Governor’s Mansion in April, said on his blog that he was portraying a crucified Jesus and that his hat covered “a black leather bound King James Version of the Bible, the book that my parents taught me to read and love as a child.”

LITTLE ROCK — An Arkansas judge who blocked the state's executions the same day he participated in an anti-death penalty demonstration is asking two state panels to investigate the attorney general's office and the state Supreme Court for his removal from considering any capital punishment cases.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen on Wednesday accused Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and the court of violating ethics rules, saying neither gave him a chance to respond to efforts to disqualify him from death penalty cases in last week's order. Griffen issued an order blocking Arkansas from using a lethal injection drug, then was seen lying on a cot outside the governor's mansion during a death penalty protest.

The court lifted Griffen's order the same day it prohibited him from handling execution cases.

Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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