State Supreme Court won’t reconsider ruling on execution law

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday denied a request from a group of condemned inmates to reconsider its recent decision upholding the state’s lethal-injection law.

But the court also granted a motion by the inmates to stay their executions so they can have time to pursue an appeal to U.S. Supreme Court.

In a one-page order, the state Supreme Court denied a petition for rehearing in the inmates’ challenge to the lethal-injection law. Justices Paul Danielson, Josephine Hart and Robin Wynne would have granted a rehearing — the same three justices who dissented from the court’s June 23 decision rejecting the inmates’ challenge to the law.

The eight inmates’ executions were stayed while their lawsuit was pending. In its order Thursday, the court also granted a motion by the inmates to stay their executions while they seek an appeal to the nation’s top court. Justices Karen Baker, Courtney Goodson and Rhonda Wood would have denied the motion.

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