Federal judge postpones death row inmate executions over lethal drugs information

NBC News said that a federal judge ordered that the scheduled executions of two death row inmates be stopped until state officials release information on the origins of the drugs to be used for the lethal injections. The news outlet said this development was the latest in a nationwide battle over capital punishment.

The executions of Tommy Lynn Sells and Ramiro Hernandez Llanas are postponed for the meantime until a resolution to their request for information has been reached. Sells, who was set to be executed on Thursday, is convicted of stabbing a 13 year-old girl in 1999 and had confessed to many other slayings. Llanas is a convicted rapist-murdered and is set to be executed the following week.

US District Judge Vanessa Gilmore said that the temporary injunction she issued on Wednesday will be implemented until the state of Texas provides the name of the supplier of the drugs to the death row inmates' lawyers. She added in a written ruling, "While the state has provided plaintiffs information about the process by which they will be executed, it has masked information about the product that will kill them."

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice earlier refused to provide the name of the supplier who has been providing the state government lethal doses of pentobarbital. The jailers had argued that the need to keep the name of the supplier secret was for the latter's protection from threats and harassment. NBC News said that this reasoning was used despite the fact that a 2011 ruling of the state attorney general had allowed the release of the information and was seconded by a state judge last week under a protective order.

Sell's and Llanas' lawyers Maurie Levin and Jonathan Ross said in a joint statement, "(Gilmore's order) honors and reflects the crucial importance of transparency in the execution process. We hope that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice will finally decide to comply with the law, and cease attempting to shroud in secrecy one aspect of their job that, above all others, should be conducted in the light of day."

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Tommy Lynn Sells and Ramiro Hernandez Llanas execution, US District Judge Vanessa Gilmore, Texas Department of Criminal Justice

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