On June 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that wit­ness­es should have full view­ing-access to exe­cu­tions car­ried out in Idaho, sid­ing with the Associated Press and oth­er media out­lets. Seventeen news orga­ni­za­tions had argued that the state’s pro­to­col was uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly restric­tive because it pre­vent­ed wit­ness­es, includ­ing reporters act­ing as rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the pub­lic, from view­ing exe­cu­tions until after catheters had been insert­ed into the veins of death row inmates. The court stat­ed, ​“Nearly a decade ago, we held in the clear­est pos­si­ble terms that ​‘the pub­lic enjoys a First Amendment right to view exe­cu­tions from the moment the con­demned is escort­ed into the exe­cu­tion cham­ber.’ … The State of Idaho has had ample oppor­tu­ni­ty for the past decade to adopt an exe­cu­tion pro­ce­dure that reflects this set­tled law.” The rul­ing will imme­di­ate­ly affect the exe­cu­tion of Richard Leavitt, who is fac­ing lethal injec­tion on June 12. Jeff Ray, a spokesper­son for Idaho’s Department of Corrections said, ​“We, of course, respect the court’s deci­sion. We will take the nec­es­sary mea­sures to assure that the exe­cu­tion con­tin­ues as scheduled.”

(J. Bonner, ​“Court sides with AP, news groups over exe­cu­tion,” Associated Press, June 9, 2012. See Executions. Listen to DPIC’s pod­cast on Lethal Injections.

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