Deborah Denno comments to MSNBC on the execution of Herbert Smulls and how his short reprieve from the death chamber, and ultimately his death, may have strenghtened a growing movement by death row inmates and their advocates who are calling for states to be more transparent about the lethal drug combinations used in executions.
Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham University School of Law, said it’s not just the shadowy manner in which lethal injection drugs are produced and acquired that is troubling: states are becoming more aggressive in experimenting with largely untested combinations of drugs.
“There’s been a relative surge in momentum around this issue over the past few months because of all the experimenting with different drugs and states being riskier with different kinds of drugs and the speed at which they are changing drugs,” Denno said. “But this is just a variation on a decades-long running theme.”
In a soon-to-be published article for the Georgetown Law Journal, Denno writes that as death penalty states turn to new sources for drugs (and face public criticism and legal challenges), they have intensified their efforts to obscure information about the development and implementation of their execution protocols.
One thing that has been constant is “states’ desire for secrecy regarding execution practices,” Denno wrote.
“Amidst the chaos of drug shortages, changing protocols, legal challenges and botched executions, states are unwavering in their desire to conceal this disturbing reality from the public.”
Read the entire MSNBC story.