“We conclude that Georgia’s execution process is likely made more timely and orderly by the execution-participant confidentiality statute and, furthermore, that significant personal interests are also protected by it.”
— P. Harris Hines, Georgia State Supreme Court presiding justice, writing for the majority in affirming that state’s secrecy law for the drugs it uses in executions.
Why it stinks: A number of recent planned executions have highlighted exactly why the public should know more about the deadly cocktail states use to put people to death. In Mississippi, a lawsuit on behalf of Michelle Byrom to compel the prison system to disclose the source of its execution chemicals helped raised awareness about Byrom’s case, which eventually resulted in a stay of execution and a new trial—which was anything but orderly.
