In a 5-2 ruling issued on May 19, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the state’s law that hides the source and the identity of the preparer of drugs and equipment used in executions. The court said, “We conclude that Georgia’s execution process is likely made more timely and orderly by the execution-participant confidentiality statute….” The ruling lifted the stay of execution that was in place for Warren Hill, whose lawyers challenged the law. In a dissent, Justice Robert Benham referenced the recent botched execution in Oklahoma, writing, “I fear this state is on a path that, at the very least, denies Hill and other death row inmates their rights to due process and, at the very worst, leads to the macabre results that occurred in Oklahoma.” Hill’s lawyer, Brian Kammer, said the decision, “effectively affords the State of Georgia carte blanche to alter their lethal injection protocol in any way it sees fit, and to conceal from the public and even the courts the identity and provenance of the chemicals it intends to use to carry out executions.” A similar secrecy law in Missouri is being challenged by five news organizations, who say the law violates the First Amendment.
Hill’s case has also gained attention because of strong evidence that he is intellectually disabled and hence barred from execution.
(A. Blinder, “Georgia Court Upholds Block on Details of State’s Executions,” New York Times, May 19, 2014). See Lethal Injection and Botched Executions.
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