[JURIST] Attorneys for four death-row inmates on Monday proceeded in a challenge [JURIST report] to an Ohio law [text, HB 663] by filing a motion [text, PDF] for a preliminary injunction. HB 663 is 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 year, but it is set to go into effect in late March. In the motion, the plaintiff’s claim that the law is “an intentional effort by the State to censor and silence a specific message,” namely the half of the capital punishment debate opposed to the death penalty, which they claim is a violation of the First Amendment [text]. The plaintiffs claim that because those who willingly choose to participate in lethal injection executions will be granted anonymity, the successes that were previously enjoyed by groups advocating against the death penalty will become non-existent as it will insulate them “from any further speech that might dissuade them from participating in lethal injection executions.” Proponents of HB 663 argue that anonymity is necessary to protect those entities from public reprisal for their part in the production of lethal-injection drugs.

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 the botched 26-minute long execution of Ohio inmate Dennis McGuire [JURIST report] in January. The children of McGuire, a convicted murderer, filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in January over the method used in McGuire’s execution, which they claim 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.