LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Latest on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Arkansas death penalty cases (all times local):
1:10 p.m.
An attorney representing nine Arkansas death row inmates says they’re studying their options after the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear their case challenging the state’s execution law.
The inmates had asked justices to review an Arkansas Supreme Court decision upholding a law that keeps secret the source of lethal injection drugs. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday handed down decisions in several death row cases nationwide, including the Arkansas case.
Attorney Jeff Rosenzweig says the inmates are disappointed by the decision.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge says the decision means executions can move forward in the state, and that she’ll ask Gov. Asa Hutchinson to set new execution dates for inmates whose appeals have been exhausted.
The state hasn’t executed an inmate since 2005 because of difficulties obtaining execution drugs and legal challenges.
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10:30 a.m.
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by Arkansas inmates to stop their executions over claims that their deaths would be “intolerably painful.”
The nine inmates asked the justices to review an Arkansas Supreme Court decision upholding a law that keeps secret the source of the lethal injection drugs. Justices on Tuesday handed down decisions in the Arkansas case, plus several other death row cases nationwide.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge says she will ask Gov. Asa Hutchinson to set execution dates for the inmates whose appeals have been exhausted.
Arkansas has not executed an inmate since 2005 because of legal challenges and the difficulty of obtaining execution drugs. One of Arkansas’ execution drugs expired last month and an agency spokesman said Tuesday it had not acquired additional doses.
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