Court: Missouri not required to disclose source of execution drug News
Court: Missouri not required to disclose source of execution drug

[JURIST] The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District [official website] on Wednesday ruled [opinion] that state prison officials are not required to disclose the names of the pharmaceutical suppliers that provide the state with pentobarbital, the drug used in lethal injection. The opinion reversed a March decision that found the state wrongly withheld the names of two pharmaceutical suppliers, in violation of the Sunshine Law [RSMo Ch. 610]. This court held that the law that protects the identity of executioners [RSMo 2015 § 546.720.1], an exception to the disclosure requirements of the Sunshine Law, also applies to those supplying the execution drug. The law protects the identity of “those persons who administer lethal gas or lethal chemicals and those persons, such as medical personnel, who provide direct support.” The state alleged, and the court agreed, that this includes the drug manufacturers, while prosecuting attorney Bernie Rhodes disagreed. Said Rhodes: “We believe to directly assist, you have to be there. … Selling the drugs is no different… from selling the syringes or the gurney or the light bulbs in the execution chamber.”

The death penalty has been a pressing issue across the country. Earlier this month the Mississippi House of Representatives approved a bill [JURIST report] that would allow execution by firing squad, nitrogen gas or electrocution if the current method of execution, lethal injection, is deemed unconstitutional by a court. Shortly before, a judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio refused to lift [JURIST report] a preliminary injunction that delays executions in Ohio. Last month Judge Michael Merz blocked [JURIST report] Ohio’s lethal injection protocol by deeming it unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. In January the US Supreme Court refused to consider [JURIST report] a challenge to Alabama’s death penalty system.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Justice Department brings anit-trust action against AT&T

On November 20, 1974, the Department of Justice filed its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. United States v. AT&T was ultimately settled out of court with an agreement that the corporation would break up its monopoly on phone service throughout the country.

Nuremberg war crimes trials began

On November 20, 1945, the war crimes trials of Nazi World War II leaders began in the German city of Nuremberg. Review the Nuremberg Tribunal's Charter and the verdicts and sentences handed down on major war figures.

Winston Churchill born

On November 20, 1874, Sir Winston Churchill was born in Woodstock, England. He would go on to lead the United Kingdom as Prime Minister through World War II. Toward the end of the war, Churchill worked with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to craft the treaties and accords that have defined the world since WWII. A 2002 poll by the BBC declared Churchill the Greatest Briton of all time.

New Jersey ratifies Bill of Rights

New Jersey ratified the Bill of Rights, a set of 10 fundamental amendments to the US Constitution, on November 20, 1789, becoming the first state to do so. The state also ratified an amendment on federal representation which ultimately failed. Additionally, New Jersey rejected an amendment on congressional salaries, which would eventually become the 27th Amendment more than 200 years later. Read the articles ratified by New Jersey.