[JURIST] Four death row inmates filed a complaint [complaint, PDF] on Wednesday challenging Substitute House Bill 663 [text], a measure providing for the confidentiality of entities involved in the manufacture of drugs for use in capital punishment by lethal injection, and of the persons involved in executing a sentence of capital punishment. Ohio Governor John R. Kasich [official profile] signed the bill into law [press release, PDF] last Friday. The focal point of the complaint is Ohio’s use of alternative lethal injection compounds, since European drug manufacturers refuse to sell sodium thiopental and other popular sedatives for use in executions [Guardian report; JURIST report]. With European sedatives unavailable, Ohio and other states have turned to using a cocktail of midazolam, a barbituate, and hydromorphone, a painkiller, for executions [Toledo Blade report]. The drug cocktail was used in the 26-minute long execution of Ohio inmate Dennis McGuire [JURIST report], and on Arizona inmate Joseph Wood, who took nearly two hours to die [Republic report; JURIST report]. Proponents of HB 663 argue that the anonymity of compounding pharmacies is necessary to protect those entities from public reprisal for their part in the production of lethal-injection drugs. Attorneys for the inmates challenging the bill claim that anonymity effectively silences one half of the capital punishment debate, in violation of the free speech protections of the First Amendment [text].

The controversy [JURIST op-ed] surrounding the contents of lethal injection drugs and execution protocol in the US has been a mainstream issue in politics and in courts around the US in 2014, especially after McGuire’s botched execution in January. The children of McGuire, a convicted murderer, filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in January over the method used in McGuire’s 26-minute long execution, which they say amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. Earlier that month, McGuire’s attorneys filed for a stay of execution [JURIST report], claiming that the untried execution method would cause McGuire to experience a suffocation-like syndrome known as air hunger. The court refused to halt the execution [JURIST report], finding that the evidence presented failed to prove a substantial risk of severe pain. The US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio ordered a temporary moratorium [JURIST report] on executions in Ohio in May to allow attorneys time to complete discovery and other legal preparations pertaining to Ohio’s execution protocols. The stay is set to expire in January [Cleveland report].