Arkansas judge rejects bid to halt multiple executions

Executions have been set for (top row, from left) Kenneth Williams, Jack Jones Jr., Marcel Williams, Bruce Earl Ward, and (bottom row, from left) Don Davis, Stacey Johnson, Jason McGehee and Ledell Lee.
Executions have been set for (top row, from left) Kenneth Williams, Jack Jones Jr., Marcel Williams, Bruce Earl Ward, and (bottom row, from left) Don Davis, Stacey Johnson, Jason McGehee and Ledell Lee.

LITTLE ROCK — An Arkansas judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the state's lethal injection law, the latest setback for efforts to block the state's unprecedented plan to conduct four double executions over a 10-day period next month.

Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Wendell Griffen granted the state's motion Tuesday to dismiss the lawsuit filed by eight inmates facing lethal injection next month. Griffen said he has no jurisdiction over the case after the state Supreme Court reversed his previous decision striking down the law and the state's three-drug protocol.

An attorney for the inmates said he planned to appeal Griffen's ruling quickly to the state Supreme Court.

"We will again ask the court to reconsider its findings and point out the flaws in its earlier findings," Jeff Rosenzweig said.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson last month scheduled the executions to begin before the state's supply of midazolam, a controversial sedative used in its three-drug protocol, expires. Arkansas has not executed an inmate since 2005.

[DOCUMENT: Read Judge Wendell Griffen's full order]

The inmates filed a federal lawsuit Monday aimed at halting the executions. They've also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to not review a state court ruling upholding the lethal injection law, which keeps the source of Arkansas' execution drugs secret.

The executions are scheduled on April 17, April 20, April 24 and April 27.

In his ruling, Griffen wrote that he was troubled by the state Supreme Court decision and by the inmates' argument that the lethal injection protocol could subject them to painful executions.

"It is more than troubling that Arkansas judges must now deny persons sentenced to death by lethal injection a fair and impartial evidentiary hearing concerning their allegations that the state of Arkansas intends to subject them to an execution process which they allege will involve demonstrable risk of severe pain," he wrote.

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

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