LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas officials and a medical supply company want to toss out a lawsuit over the firm's claims the state misleadingly obtained an execution drug now that the prison system's supply of the drug has expired.
Attorneys for the state and McKesson Medical-Surgical, Inc. on Monday asked the state Supreme Court to dismiss the case over Arkansas' now-expired supply of vecuronium bromide, one of three drugs used in the state's lethal injection process. Arkansas' supply of the drug expired on March 1.
The state had appealed a Pulaski County judge's preliminary injunction preventing Arkansas from using the drug after McKesson sued. The state Supreme Court last April stayed that ruling, which allowed Arkansas to resume executions for the first time in nearly 12 years.
