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Oklahoma judge rules death row inmates can find out where execution drugs come from

Oklahoma judge rules death row inmates can find out where execution drugs come from

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An Oklahoma judge has overturned a state law that prevented inmates on death row — and just about everyone else — from learning the source of drugs used during lethal injections, reports Oklahoma City's KFOR. According to the Associated Press, the law was declared unconstitutional because the strict privacy that it gave to drug makers violated petitioners' due process by not allowing information about them to be revealed even during a court's discovery process. The ruling came from an Oklahoma County district court in a lawsuit raised by two inmates scheduled for execution in April.

Whether lethal injection drugs' sources should be disclosed has been in contention recently following reports of executions that led to pain or worked slowly. Several states have had to turn to new drug manufacturers in recent years, and there's been concern that these new drugs may be ineffective or cause suffering. The AP reports that Oklahoma intends to appeal the ruling, and the inmates have requested that a separate court put a stay on their executions for now. The inmates' lawyer expects that the ruling itself will be stayed too — potentially until it heads up to the state's high court.