An Arkansas judge prohibited from handling execution-related cases after he participated in an anti-death penalty demonstration is asking a federal appeals court to reconsider a panel's decision to dismiss his lawsuit challenging his disqualification.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen asked the full 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Monday to take up the case that stemmed from the demonstration last year, which occurred the same day he blocked Arkansas from using a lethal injection drug over claims its supplier had been misled by the state. During the demonstration, Griffen was strapped to a cot and wore an anti-death penalty button.
A three-judge panel of the appeals court earlier this month dismissed Griffen's lawsuit against the state's seven Supreme Court justices over their order disqualifying him from death penalty cases.