Attorney General Leslie Rutledge sought to keep the origins of the state's lethal-injection drugs secret in an appeal filed with the state Supreme Court on Friday.
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Rutledge filed an emergency petition for a stay of Pulaski County Judge Wendell Griffen's Thursday evening order to the Department of Correction to release labels from a recently acquired batch of potassium chloride, set to be used in the executions of eight inmates this month.
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Griffen said the state's Method of Execution Act, which contains secrecy provisions to prevent the disclosure of suppliers, does not extend to manufacturers.
Within hours of that decision Thursday evening, Rutledge announced her intention to appeal the order to the state's highest court, which has previously ruled against disclosing drug suppliers.
Rutledge's emergency order was filed with the court early Friday. The justices had yet to issue a ruling as of the evening.
Griffen's Thursday ruling came as a result of a suit brought by Steven Shults, a Little Rock attorney who had requested package inserts and labels of the drugs under the state's Freedom of Information Act.
The Department of Correction denied Shults' request, as well as a similar request by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, on the basis that such records had previously been used by news organizations to identify the suppliers of Arkansas' lethal-injection drugs.
In the petition filed with the court Friday, Rutledge's office said the department agreed to provide a redacted copy of the drug label and an unredacted copy of the package insert.
Heather Zachary, an attorney representing Shults, said they were still seeking an unredacted copy.
A spokesman with the Department of Correction declined to provide the Democrat-Gazette with the same records mentioned in Rutledge's filing.
In a letter filed with the court Friday, Justice Courtney Goodson disclosed that Zachary previously served as her law clerk. Goodson said that would not affect her objectivity in the case and declined to recuse.
Metro on 04/01/2017