JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The next Missouri death row inmate scheduled to die by lethal injection wants a Cole County judge to halt his June 18 execution over concerns that the state's refusal to disclose its drug supplier violates laws protecting the public's right to know.
An attorney for condemned inmate John Winfield on Wednesday asked a judge in the state capital to issue a preliminary injunction that would postpone the scheduled execution. The legal challenge argues that the Missouri Department of Corrections is violating state public records laws by keeping the identity of its execution drug supplier and other details secret.
The state says such anonymity is vital to protecting the compounding pharmacy that supplies pentobarbital and its employees from retaliation. Circuit Judge Jon Beetem didn't immediately rule on the injunction request.