Arkansas Supreme Court strikes down state's execution law

June 22, 2012

Little Rock, Arkansas: The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the state's execution law in a 5-2 decision released this morning.

According to the Court's decision, written by Justice Jim Gunter, Arkansas's execution law violates the separation-of-powers doctrine set out in the Arkansas Constitution because it allows prison officials to decide what chemicals to use in lethal injections. The opinion states that "the Legislature has abdicated its responsibility" in giving the Arkansas Department of Correction "unfettered discretion to determine all protocol and procedures, most notably the chemicals to be used, for a state execution."

Previously, a lower court attempted to save the execution statute by striking some of the language referring to the use of "any other chemical" in a lethal injection. The Supreme Court determined that this change was not enough to make the statute constitutional, because the offending section was "not severable" from the rest of the statute.

In dissent, Justice Karen Baker pointed out that the discretion granted under the statute was not "unfettered" because corrections officials "are at all times bound by the constraints of our federal and state constitutions against cruel and unusual punishment." She also stated that Arkansas is now the only state in which it has been held that "granting discretion to the Director of the Department of Correction to administer the death penalty is a violation" of a separation-of-powers provision.

Executions cannot be carried out in Arkansas until the legislature passes a constitutional statute to govern them. Such legislative action will not occur until January 2013 unless Governor Mike Beebe calls the General Assembly into executive session to address the issue. There are currently 40 men on Death Row in Arkansas, and the last execution in the state took place on November 28, 2005.

See also

• Arkansas judicial news