Federal Judge Orders Alabama to Disclose Execution Records

A federal district court has ordered the Alabama Department of Corrections to release its lethal-injection protocol and unseal transcripts and pleadings related to the failed execution of Doyle Hamm. In a May 30, 2018, order, Judge Karon Owen Bowdre, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama said “how Alabama carries out its executions” is “a matter of great public concern,” and ruled that the public’s “common law right of access to the sealed records relating to Alabama’s lethal injection protocol” outweighed arguments to keep the records secret. Doyle Hamm was scheduled to be executed in Alabama on February 22. Despite Hamm’s repeated warnings that his terminal illness would make it impossible to establish IV lines, and after an initial stay of execution issued by Judge Bowdre was overturned by the appellate courts, Alabama unsuccessfully tried for more than two hours to set an IV before calling off the execution. Hamm had filed suit against the state seeking to bar Alabama from making a second attempt to execute him. The parties reached a confidential settlement in which Alabama agreed it would not execute Hamm, leaving questions about Alabama’s protocol and execution process unanswered. Three media outlets—the Associated Press, The Montgomery Advertiser, and the Alabama Media Group—intervened, seeking public release of the protocol and judicial records. Alabama argued that providing the records to the media would be improper because “the media attempts to gin up public scandal” about the death penalty. The court rejected that accusation as unsupported by any facts, emphasizing that “Public discussion is not the same as public scandal. The public,” she wrote, “needs to know how the State administers its laws; without such knowledge, the public cannot form an educated opinion on this very important topic.” The court’s order allows the state to redact from the records information that could reveal the identities of the individuals who participated in the execution. State officials have not indicated whether they will appeal.

(Kim Chandler, Judge tells Alabama to release lethal injection information, Associated Press, May 30, 2018; Max Greenwood, Alabama officials ordered to release information about execution protocol, The Hill, May 30, 2018; Melissa Brown, Court grants Advertiser’s effort to reveal Alabama execution protocol, Montgomery Advertiser, May 31, 2018.) Read the Court’s Opinion. See Lethal Injection and Secrecy.