Arkansas Supreme Court won't reconsider judge's bid to handle execution cases

October 17, 2019 at 12:46 p.m.

by The Associated Press

In this April 14, 2017, file photo provided by Sherry Simon, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen, is shown on a cot at an anti-death penalty demonstration outside the Governor's Mansion in Little Rock, Ark. (Sherry Simon via AP, File)
In this April 14, 2017, file photo provided by Sherry Simon, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen, is shown on a cot at an anti-death penalty demonstration outside the Governor's Mansion in Little Rock, Ark. (Sherry Simon via AP, File)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Arkansas Supreme Court says it won't reconsider a request by a judge who demonstrated against the death penalty to resume hearing execution cases.

Justices on Thursday denied Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen's request that the court take another look at its Sept. 19 ruling that the judge is still barred from handling execution cases. Griffen was disqualified from execution cases in April 2017 after he was photographed at a demonstration the same day he blocked Arkansas from using a lethal injection drug.

Griffen had argued the court was mistaken in viewing his request as a petition from rehearing from its 2017 order. He said the court didn't grant him a hearing before it prohibited him from execution cases.

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