Alabama is appealing a federal judge’s order to make the state’s lethal injection procedures public and to unseal other court records about an aborted execution in the state.
Chief District Judge Karon O. Bowdre on Thursday stayed her order to make the protocol and sealed hearing transcripts public as the Department of Corrections appeals.
Bowdre had last week ordered the records unsealed, saying the public has a “great interest in understanding how the state carries out its punishment.”
Lawyers for the state are appealing to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing the state has an interest in keeping the information private.
Media outlets had sought the information after a lethal injection was halted when the execution team had difficulty connecting the intravenous line to an ill inmate.
Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
