Should pharmacists involved in lethal-injection compounding be identified?

Some prosecutors and the state’s attorney general want to change Ohio’s lethal-injection law to shield the identities of pharmacists, physicians, and others involved in the process.

Arizona, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania have already passed laws or rules to conceal the source of drugs and the people involved in executions. Such laws are designed to protect those involved in executions from harassment and threats.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, the changes are being advocated by both Attorney General Mike DeWine and have been endorsed by the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. The changes would also conceal from the public the names of drug suppliers, physicians, and execution team members. State legislators would need to approve the changes.

To the compounder of the Oklahoma execution drug: Come out of the shadows

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said the state should either make changes to the law to shield those involved in executions or abandon capital punishment.

 “Otherwise, they might as well outright repeal the death penalty because sentences imposed years ago and upheld in the courts after decades of post-conviction litigation will not be able to be carried out,”  O’Brien told the newspaper.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the nonpartisan Death Penalty Information Center, called the trend of concealing the identities of people involved in executions “troubling.”

“The states have taken a closed-door silo approach and are asking us to trust their choices. That trust can only go so far,” Dieter said.