COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- An Ohio bill that could keep secret the manufacturers of lethal injection drugs is unconstitutional, critics testified Tuesday.
Ohio House Bill 663 would grant anonymity to compounding pharmacies that sell the cocktail of midazolam and hydromorphone to the state on demand. These small-scale drug manufacturers are seeking secrecy out of fear of public backlash for selling the cocktail.
The state turned to these local drug manufacturers for the cocktail after European companies refused to sell pentobarbital for the purpose of execution.
Critics said keeping the compounding pharmacies secret infringes upon free speech and judicial rights.
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"This bill likely will prompt endless litigation – a precise situation you are trying to avoid," said Dennis Hetzel, executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association, in testimony before the House Policy and Legislative Oversight Committee.
The bill is being considered after a judge issued a moratorium on executions in the state until Ohio could pass reforms. The halt to the death penalty came after the state was criticized for the amount of time it took to execute Dennis McGuire earlier this year. McGuire was the first person in the state to be executed using the then-untested two-drug cocktail of midazolam and hydromorphone.
Other states using the cocktail -- Arizona and Oklahoma -- also carried out botched executions.
"Given all of these difficulties, you'd think leading state legislators would move forcefully to reform or abolish the death penalty in the state. Not so. Their solution is extreme: Close the curtain and keep the public out," said Mike Brickner with the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.
"The government represents the people and should be accountable to us. We have laws that require government officials to provide public records and have open meetings in order to prevent corruption, abuse, and incompetence," he added in a blog post on the ACLU website. "Taking a person's life is the ultimate punishment that the public can levy, which means we have to take even greater pains to ensure the government does it humanely and legally."
