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News groups join Larry Flynt’s push for execution info

FILE - In this April 30, 2011 file photo, Larry Flynt speaks in Los Angeles, Calif. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis is hearing arguments Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2014 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, which represents the Hustler publisher, to overturn the lower court ruling that denied Flynt's attempt to intervene in a 2013 lawsuit over Missouri's largely secret execution methods. (AP Photo/Katy Winn, file) FILE - In this April 30, 2011 file photo, Larry Flynt speaks in Los Angeles, Calif. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis is hearing arguments Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2014 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, which represents the Hustler publisher, to overturn the lower court ruling that denied Flynt's attempt to intervene in a 2013 lawsuit over Missouri's largely secret execution methods. (AP Photo/Katy Winn, file)

By Associated Press January 14, 2015 1 min read

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Fourteen news organizations have asked a federal appeals court to allow pornographer Larry Flynt to join a lawsuit seeking to force Missouri to disclose details of its execution methods.

A lawyer for the news outlets argued Wednesday before a federal appeals court panel in St. Louis that the Hustler magazine publisher should be allowed to join the pending lawsuit on First Amendment grounds.

A federal district court judge had denied Flynt’s request to join it. Flynt opposes capital punishment and sought to join the case shortly before the November 2013 execution of Joseph Paul Franklin, a white supremacist who shot Flynt and left him paralyzed. Franklin was executed for an unrelated attack.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri is representing Flynt, who didn’t attend the hearing.