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Judge Rejects Bid To Halt Multiple Executions

Pulaski County Judge Wendell Griffen
PBS

An Arkansas judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the state's lethal injection law, the latest setback for efforts to block the state's unprecedented plan to conduct four double executions over a 10-day period next month.

Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Wendell Griffen granted the state's motion Tuesday to dismiss the lawsuit filed by eight inmates facing lethal injection next month. Griffen said he has no jurisdiction over the case after the state Supreme Court upheld the lethal injection law and protocol.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson last month scheduled the executions to begin before the state's supply of midazolam, a controversial sedative used in the state's three-drug protocol, expires. Arkansas has not executed an inmate since 2005.

The inmates filed a federal lawsuit Monday aimed at halting the executions.

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