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Arkansas Judge Wants US Supreme Court To Review Execution Protest Complaints

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen taking part in an anti-death penalty demonstration in front of the Arkansas Governor's Mansion in April 2017.
Brian Chilson
/
Arkansas Times

Attorneys for an Arkansas judge say they're asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the judge's complaints against members of the state Supreme Court.

Attorney Mike Laux says the petition was filed Friday on behalf of Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Wendell Griffen. It comes after previous complaints were dismissed by a district judge, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and a judicial oversight commission.

Laux said he's confident the high court will take the case because he believes the appeals court "got it wrong."

Griffen alleges the justices violated ethics rules and his constitutional rights when they disqualified him from execution-related cases after he took part in an anti-death penalty demonstration by strapping himself to a cot outside the governor's mansion the same day he prevented Arkansas from using a lethal injection drug.

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