On December 11 District Judge Darlene Byrne ruled that the source of Texas’ lethal injection drugs is a matter of public record, and the state should release the information. Texas has been obtaining pentobarbital from an unnamed compounding pharmacy. The decision resulted from a suit filed earlier this year on behalf of death row inmates, two of whom have since been executed. Texas had been open about the source of its execution drugs until May, when Attorney General Greg Abbott decided that releasing the identity of the drug supplier could be a safety risk. Maurie Levin, one of the attorneys who filed the suit, said, “This is about the drugs, but it’s also about open government.” Similar suits have been filed in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Ohio, where drug suppliers are also shielded by secrecy policies. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice plans to appeal the decision.
(W. Weissert, “Judge: Texas Should Reveal Execution Drug Supplier,” Associated Press, ABC News, December 12, 2014). See Lethal Injection and Compounding Pharmacies.
