No state has ever put as many inmates to death in as short a period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The six remaining executions are on hold because of Baker's order and because a state circuit judge in Little Rock ordered the state to not use a lethal injection drug until questions are settled on how the state obtained it.
In its filing yesterday, the inmates' legal team said the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals should review Judge Baker's decision to reject part of their arguments.
On Sunday, a federal judge in western Arkansas rejected a separate stay request from death row inmate Don Davis, who was originally scheduled to be put to death Monday.
Any significant delay in court arguments could make them largely meaningless: Arkansas' midazolam supply expires April 30 and the state says it has no source for additional doses. Two others won stays of execution from state courts, leaving six of the original petitioners now in line for their executions to be carried out. Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge made it clear the state was unwilling to concede.
The company said the Arkansas prison system failed to return a supply of the drug when it learned the state meant to use it for executions, a violation of an understanding between the two, according to McKesson.
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At a federal court hearing last week, prison officials testified that they have no new source for the sedative, which is meant to mask the effects of drugs that will shut down the inmates' lungs and hearts. The drug is supposed to render a person unconscious and unable to feel pain during a lethal injection.
Six Death Row prisoners lined up for execution in Arkansas by the end of this month want an appeals court to decide on their claim that the tight timetable would violate "evolving standards of decency".
"The current schedule does not conform to the standards followed in a civilized society", they wrote.
U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker, in a 101-page ruling, found the state's plan would deny the inmates their legal rights by depriving them of adequate counsel because prison officials allow only a single lawyer to be present for any execution. It would keep the right to file another lawsuit if Baker's order is overturned.
A different federal judge has issued a stay for one of the eight condemned prisoners and the state Supreme Court has issued one for another inmate.
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