ATLANTA – Lawyers for the state and for a Georgia death row inmate sparred Monday over whether prisoners awaiting execution should have access to information about where the state gets its death penalty drug.
In July, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Gail Tusan issued a stay of execution for Warren Lee Hill after his attorneys challenged the constitutionality of a new state law that classifies certain information about executions, including the source of the drug, as a “confidential state secret.”
Lawyers for the state appealed Tusan’s order to the Georgia Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in the case Monday.
Sabrina Graham with the state attorney general’s office asked the high court to rule that Tusan didn’t have the authority to halt the execution and find the state’s law constitutional. Manoj Varghese, a lawyer for Hill, argued that the stay of execution was appropriate and said death row inmates need to have information about where the execution drug comes from so they can challenge it if they believe it could cause unnecessary suffering.
The high court justices peppered both sides with questions but didn’t give much indication whether they would rule on the law’s constitutionality or whether they would limit their opinion to whether Tusan had the authority to issue the stay.