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| ACLU challenges Pennsylvania over execution drugs secrecy in federal court | ACLU challenges Pennsylvania over execution drugs secrecy in federal court |
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| The secrecy imposed on the identity of the compounding pharmacy that supplied lethal drugs to Pennsylvania for use in executions is challenged on Thursday in an emergency legal motion lodged with a federal court. | |
| The ACLU of Pennsylvania has asked judge Yvette Kane of the US district court in Harrisburg to unseal a set of legal documents that contain hidden details about the source of the state’s lethal injection drugs. In tune with many other death penalty states, Pennsylvania has shrouded its execution procedure in secrecy in the hope of keeping supply routes to the medicines open in the face of a tight international boycott led by the European Commission. | The ACLU of Pennsylvania has asked judge Yvette Kane of the US district court in Harrisburg to unseal a set of legal documents that contain hidden details about the source of the state’s lethal injection drugs. In tune with many other death penalty states, Pennsylvania has shrouded its execution procedure in secrecy in the hope of keeping supply routes to the medicines open in the face of a tight international boycott led by the European Commission. |
| The next execution scheduled in the state is on 22 September, when convicted murderer, Hubert Michael, 57, is set to die by an injection of three separate lethal drugs. The execution is currently on hold awaiting the decision of the 3rd circuit court of appeals, but the stay could be lifted at any time which would pave the way for the first judicial killing in Pennsylvania for 15 years. | The next execution scheduled in the state is on 22 September, when convicted murderer, Hubert Michael, 57, is set to die by an injection of three separate lethal drugs. The execution is currently on hold awaiting the decision of the 3rd circuit court of appeals, but the stay could be lifted at any time which would pave the way for the first judicial killing in Pennsylvania for 15 years. |
| The condemned man, who pleaded guilty to raping and murdering a 16-year-old girl, Trista Eng, has been on death row for two decades and has exhausted almost all his legal options. He would be the first death row inmate in Pennsylvania to be put to death since 1999. | The condemned man, who pleaded guilty to raping and murdering a 16-year-old girl, Trista Eng, has been on death row for two decades and has exhausted almost all his legal options. He would be the first death row inmate in Pennsylvania to be put to death since 1999. |
| The ACLU’s action has been brought on behalf of the Guardian and three state newspapers – the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Philadelphia City Paper. The news organisations jointly argue that preventing them from reporting on crucial aspects of the death penalty protocol, including the identity of the pharmacy where the execution drugs were concocted, is a breach of their first amendment rights as well as those of the citizens of Pennsylvania who should have full knowledge of how the punishment is being wielded in their name. | |
| Under a court order issued in November 2012, the identity of the compounding pharmacy that provides Pennsylvania’s department of corrections with the barbiturate pentobarbital has been kept secret. The name and other identifying information about the pharmacy has been issued to Hubert Michael’s lawyers, but not to the press or public. | Under a court order issued in November 2012, the identity of the compounding pharmacy that provides Pennsylvania’s department of corrections with the barbiturate pentobarbital has been kept secret. The name and other identifying information about the pharmacy has been issued to Hubert Michael’s lawyers, but not to the press or public. |
| The ACLU and the four news organisations argue in Thursday’s emergency motion that “the public and the press have a presumptive right of access to documents filed with the court ... These documents are of acute interest to the public and the media in the light of intense public scrutiny that has developed in the last year around the source of drugs used for lethal injection executions.” | The ACLU and the four news organisations argue in Thursday’s emergency motion that “the public and the press have a presumptive right of access to documents filed with the court ... These documents are of acute interest to the public and the media in the light of intense public scrutiny that has developed in the last year around the source of drugs used for lethal injection executions.” |
| A recent string of botched executions in Ohio, Oklahoma and Arizona has brought a spotlight bearing down on death penalty states and raised questions about the effectiveness of the lethal injection protocols they are following. Among the concerns are whether compounding pharmacies can be relied upon as sources of the lethal injection drugs. The pharmacies make up medicines to order, and are not subject to the same stringent standards as drugs manufactured under supervision of the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). | |
| “In light of the recent string of horrifically botched executions, the public is entitled to know how the state obtained the drugs they plan to use to carry out executions here in Pennsylvania,” said Reggie Shuford, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. | “In light of the recent string of horrifically botched executions, the public is entitled to know how the state obtained the drugs they plan to use to carry out executions here in Pennsylvania,” said Reggie Shuford, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. |
| Mary Catherine Roper, the ACLU lawyer who is representing the Guardian and its co-petitioners in Thursday’s filing, said: “The information sought by our clients is central to the debate about capital punishment. If the drugs are not made properly, they will not work properly, and the public should be very concerned about that possibility given the gruesome executions we have heard about in other states.” | Mary Catherine Roper, the ACLU lawyer who is representing the Guardian and its co-petitioners in Thursday’s filing, said: “The information sought by our clients is central to the debate about capital punishment. If the drugs are not made properly, they will not work properly, and the public should be very concerned about that possibility given the gruesome executions we have heard about in other states.” |
| The action in Pennsylvania follows a similar legal move in Missouri, where the Guardian is leading a legal challenge to that state’s secrecy over its lethal injection sources. The Guardian has also challenged Oklahoma in the courts over that state’s decision to draw the curtain over the viewing window during the botched execution of Clayton Lockett, preventing reporters from witnessing what happened. | The action in Pennsylvania follows a similar legal move in Missouri, where the Guardian is leading a legal challenge to that state’s secrecy over its lethal injection sources. The Guardian has also challenged Oklahoma in the courts over that state’s decision to draw the curtain over the viewing window during the botched execution of Clayton Lockett, preventing reporters from witnessing what happened. |
| Despite Pennsylvania’s refusal to disclose the identity of the compounding pharmacy that supplies it, sufficient information can be gleaned from court documents to know that there are grounds for concern over the lethal medicines it has acquired. Expert testimony in the case of Hubert Michael noted that the concentration of the pentobarbital in the state’s possession was different from that called for by Pennsylvania’s own execution protocol. | Despite Pennsylvania’s refusal to disclose the identity of the compounding pharmacy that supplies it, sufficient information can be gleaned from court documents to know that there are grounds for concern over the lethal medicines it has acquired. Expert testimony in the case of Hubert Michael noted that the concentration of the pentobarbital in the state’s possession was different from that called for by Pennsylvania’s own execution protocol. |
| The testimony also noted that there was no evidence that the drugs had been tested for sterility or biological contaminants. It also revealed that the vials of pentobarbital had been confusingly labelled. | The testimony also noted that there was no evidence that the drugs had been tested for sterility or biological contaminants. It also revealed that the vials of pentobarbital had been confusingly labelled. |
| In normal medical settings, lethal drugs are colour-coded to avoid mistakes in the operating theatre. Pentobarbital is by medical convention labelled yellow, while the muscle relaxant pancuronium bromide is marked in florescent red. Yet the vials obtained by the Pennsylvania prison system had pentobarbital in green and pancuronium bromide in yellow. | |
| Pennsylvania and other death penalty states have been forced to turn to compounding pharmacies after the European Commission imposed a strict export ban on lethal drugs to the US for use in executions. The Danish manufacturer of pentobarbital, under the trade name Nembutal, also enforced its own rigorous distribution restrictions that have choked off the supply to death chambers across the US. | Pennsylvania and other death penalty states have been forced to turn to compounding pharmacies after the European Commission imposed a strict export ban on lethal drugs to the US for use in executions. The Danish manufacturer of pentobarbital, under the trade name Nembutal, also enforced its own rigorous distribution restrictions that have choked off the supply to death chambers across the US. |