ACLU, journalists file lawsuit to make entire executions open

Published: July 26, 2007, 7:55 am

Tags: aclu, 1st amendment, abortion, euthanasia, news, activist judges

By JILL ZEMAN, Associated Press Writer Wednesday, July 25, 2007 sfgate.com (07-25) 12:30 PDT LITTLE ROCK, (AP) – The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and several journalists filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday, asking state prison officials to let witnesses see the entire execution process, not just when poison flows into condemned inmates. Now, media and public witnesses cannot watch as intravenous tubes are inserted and removed from the inmates. The curtains to the execution chamber open to witnesses after the condemned prisoner is already strapped to the gurney, and close once the inmate is dead. “Witnesses should be allowed to see the entire process, including strapping the condemned down and the insertion of needles,” said the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Pine Bluff. “The public has a First Amendment right to view executions from the moment the condemned is escorted into the execution chamber, including those initial procedures that are

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