Missouri must reveal source of lethal injection drugs, judge rules

Missouri prison officials must reveal the source of the state’s lethal injection drugs, a judge in Jefferson City ruled late Monday.

Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem rejected the argument by the Missouri Department of Corrections that documents containing the name of its drug source could be withheld from the public under an exemption to the Missouri Sunshine Law.

The law that protects the identity of members of the state’s execution team does not apply to the source of the drugs, Beetem found.

In finding that the state knowingly violated the Sunshine Law by withholding the documents requested by news media organizations and others, Beetem ordered the state to pay them $73,000 in attorney fees.

The judge stayed his ruling pending any appeals by the state.

The ruling is being reviewed, a spokeswoman for Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said Tuesday.

Bernie Rhodes, the Kansas City attorney who represents The Star, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Associated Press and other media organizations in the case, said the state had indicated it would appeal even before Beetem ruled.

“It would shock me if they don’t,” Rhodes said Tuesday.

The lawsuit challenging the state’s withholding of the documents was filed in May 2014.

The suit contended that public disclosure of the information “reduces the risk that improper, ineffective or defectively prepared drugs are used.”

The request for information came after the state adopted a new lethal injection protocol using the drug pentobarbital to carry out death sentences.

Since the suit was filed, the state has executed 12 prisoners. Missouri’s next execution is scheduled for May 11.

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 11:11 AM with the headline "Missouri must reveal source of lethal injection drugs, judge rules."