As Oklahoma’s death-row inmates await word on whether the state’s execution procedure is constitutional, states — including Oklahoma — maintain strong laws protecting disclosure of information about the way they implement the death penalty.
Last year, an Oklahoma inmate sat on a gurney for 43 minutes while the drugs that were supposed to course swiftly through his body and kill him failed to do so.
Any day now, the Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in a case on whether Oklahoma's death penalty protocol is constitutional, a case filed in the aftermath of that botched execution, many of the details of which still remain shrouded in secrecy. How the Supreme Court will decide — how narrowly or broadly or whether they will issue an opinion at all — is unknown.
One thing is clear, however, in Oklahoma and elsewhere: The way people are executed in America is increasingly done in secret.
The identities of the actual executioners have been secret for a long time. But in recent years, states have extended that same secrecy to the very drugs used to kill people — where they're purchased, how they're purchased, and how they're prepared and administered.
Death penalty lawyers argue the secrecy means they don't find out about many of the problems until something goes wrong. But even in those cases, investigations are done by the state itself, shielding an unknown amount of that information — beyond what the state releases — from public disclosure.
Lockett's execution took place more than a year ago, yet reporters in Oklahoma are still waiting for Gov. Mary Fallin's office to turn over emails and records from that night. Eventually Ziva Branstetter, a journalist now with the Tulsa Frontier, had little choice but to sue for the documents in December of last year.
Fallin has attempted to delay the suit — arguing that, although her office hasn't turned over the records, she hasn't formally denied the request either. Fallin's office claimed in court that absent a formal denial, the courts couldn't weigh in.
The response from Fallin isn't an anomaly, either. Her office has stopped responding to emails about a BuzzFeed News open records request from months ago.
In a statement, a Fallin spokesperson said the governor was committed to transparency.
"It is an extremely time-consuming process," Alex Weintz said. "And, since our office gets many Open Records requests, it can take a while to receive documents in response to a request."
The situation in Oklahoma isn't unusual.
"Departments of Corrections have realized that the more information they provide, the more it reveals how little they know," said Deborah Denno, a law professor who has followed the death penalty for decades.
"It's always been there, but now it's becoming more pronounced. The only time we really find out what's going on is when something goes wrong and we have a really badly botched execution."
The secrecy has also provided cover when things go wrong. That's how it has played out in Georgia after state officials had to halt an impending execution after finding particles floating in the syringe.
Source BuzzFeed - Politics http://ift.tt/1LgqIh4
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