The state has asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to dissolve a temporary restraining order issued last week by a Pulaski County Circuit Court judge that stayed eight executions scheduled to begin next week.
The request written by Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Merritt asks the court to alternatively mandate that the inmates' request for a preliminary injunction be heard before the first scheduled execution on Oct. 21. As of early Wednesday, the justices had not responded to the request.
In her petition, Merritt writes that Circuit Court Judge Wendell Griffen overreached his jurisdiction with the restraining order and that the March 1 hearing date along with actions by the inmates' attorneys were designed to delay the executions until one of the state's three lethal drugs expires in June 2016.
