LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A lawyer is trying to obtain information about the drugs Arkansas will use in an unprecedented run of executions next month, but prison officials say the information is a secret they must keep.
Steven Shults was in court Thursday seeking the drugs' packing labels. The prison officials say that, after The Associated Press previously used labels to identify drugmakers, they will no longer distribute them.
Shults says Arkansas' execution law requires that the packing labels be disclosed to ensure the inmates will be executed properly. He fears Arkansas' supplier may be violating its contract with pharmaceutical companies that bars their products' use on death row prisoners.
Eight doses of one execution drug expire April 30, so Arkansas has set eight executions in a 10-day period starting April 17.
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