Court: Alabama can’t keep its lethal injection method secret

ATLANTA (AP) – The U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta has sided with media organizations in ruling that Alabama can’t keep its lethal injection protocol secret from the public.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected Alabama’s argument that its execution method is not a court record and thus should remain secret.

At issue is what the court described as the botched execution of Doyle Hamm on Feb. 22, 2018. The court said that after several failed attempts to insert a needle into him, the execution was called off as midnight approached.

The Associated Press and other news outlets then sought the state’s execution protocol and related records.

Representatives of the Alabama Attorney General’s Office couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the decision.

(Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)