LITTLE ROCK — The state Supreme Court says Arkansas can take the next steps toward executing inmates who had challenged protocols put in place by the Department of Correction.
The U.S. Supreme Court had said Tuesday it wouldn't consider the inmates' claims that the state's execution procedures could be "intolerably painful." Arkansas justices received formal notice of the decision Friday and issued an order clearing the way for executions to resume.
Prison officials said Friday they still don't have full sets of the drugs needed to execute the inmates. Doses of a paralytic agent expired Jan. 1.
Under state law, the attorney general will ask the governor to set execution dates.
Arkansas last executed an inmate in 2005. Attempts have been canceled or delayed amid legal challenges and difficulties in obtaining lethal drugs.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
