The Tennessean: Tennessee high court considers identifying executioners

[Stefanie Faucher]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/12/15/tennessee-execution-team/20431591/

Tennessee high court considers identifying executioners
Stacy Barchenger,
The Tennessean
1:11 p.m. EST December 15, 2014

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Supreme Court will considering Thursday whether to identify the names of the execution team and pharmacists working with the deadly drugs in a challenge to a 2013 state law that keeps almost all details of the procedure a secret.

A group of 11 condemned inmates and their lawyers say that law does not apply to court cases, which other rules guide.

"The state has a compelling interest in protecting the identities of the members of the execution team because the confidentiality of this information is vital to the proper performance of defendants' duties and to the enforcement of the law," according to the Tennessee attorney general's filing in the case.

The state says the names are not relevant to the execution protocol, which is what the inmates claim is unconstitutional.

USA TODAY: Tennessee fights release of execution team identities

Lawyers for the inmates challenging Tennessee's execution protocol, changed in 2013 because supply of the existing death-penalty drugs was tightening, said the state cannot ensure that its death penalty is constitutional if inmates don't have access to where the state obtains its lethal injection drugs, the makeup of the chemical cocktail used to execute inmates and the names of the people on the execution team.

The state Supreme Court should uphold an appeals court opinion that the secrecy law withholds information from public disclosure but not from use in discovery — or evidence — proceedings in trial, the inmates' lawyers said. They contend that limited release would prevent any retaliation that the state argues could occur if the names were made public.

One woman and 69 men are on Tennessee's death row.

USA TODAY: Anesthesiologist: Ohio inmate suffered during execution

"Generally speaking, a trend we see is states attempting to enhance the secrecy surrounding their execution procedures," said Megan McCracken, a lawyer at the University of California Berkeley School of Law's Death Penalty Clinic. "That is a real problem for condemned prisoners but also for the public because without disclosure of the information there's no way to analyze the procedures and ensure they comport with the Constitution."

Tennessee's lethal injection protocol now calls for the use of pentobarbital, a barbiturate and veterinary anesthetic. At least 19 other states use or plan to use pentobarbital, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a private group that opposes the death penalty.

Some states attempting to keep their old chemical cocktail have struggled to find drug suppliers, tested new drug cocktails and at times turned to unconventional methods of procuring the deadly doses since the only federally approved manufacturer took steps to keep its drug out of execution chambers.

USA TODAY: Report: Missteps led to botched Oklahoma execution

Four bungled executions in other states this year left inmates gasping on gurneys in front of witnesses, at times for hours, fueling further scrutiny of the death penalty. Pentobarbital was used in a combination of drugs in an Oklahoma execution where the inmate reportedly said he felt his body burning before he died.

Earlier this year, supreme courts in Georgia and Oklahoma upheld secrecy statutes similar to Tennessee's law while ruling the death penalty was constitutional.





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Stefanie Faucher
Communications Director
8th Amendment Project
sfau...@8thamendment.org
Mobile 510.393.4549
8thamendment.org