MODOC knowingly violated Sunshine Law in ACLU of Missouri Lawsuit
JEFFERSON CITY – A judge has ruled that the Missouri Department of Corrections purposefully withheld information about its supply of lethal injection drugs in 2013 – information that once revealed, forced the governor to cancel a scheduled execution.
The ACLU of Missouri filed a lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Corrections (MODOC) after it failed to release records about Missouri’s supply of the drug propofol, which the state planned to use in two executions that year.
Then-Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon halted what would have been the first U.S. execution to use propofol after the ACLU lawsuit forced the MODOC to reveal the source of its execution drugs.
“The Missouri Department of Corrections violated the public’s trust, in both its plan to use questionably obtained drugs and by purposefully violating the Sunshine Law to cover up its scheme,” said Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Missouri.
Propofol is the most commonly used general anesthetic in the United States. Nearly 90 percent of all propofol is produced in Europe. The European Union threatened to halt shipments to the U.S. if the drug was used for executions. Missouri’s original supplier of the drug, Morris & Dickson, accidentally sent a case of 20 vials of the drug to the Missouri Department of Corrections. Despite frantic emails from Morris & Dickson representatives to MODOC personnel, they kept the drugs for 11 months and planned to use it for the executions. During that time period, Morris & Dickson was restricted from supplying propofol to more than 600 medical facilities it serves throughout the South and Midwest.
Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce ruled that MODOC delayed the disclosure of the records because it did not want to face “the foreseeable consequences of having to return the drugs, re-write its execution protocol, and cancel an execution, as well as receive negative publicity.”
Judge Joyce also found that MODOC’s violation of the Sunshine Law was purposeful and assessed a penalty of $2,500.00.
This is one of several lawsuits that the ACLU of Missouri has filed against the Missouri Department of Corrections because of its lack of transparency. In November, an appellate court reaffirmed that MODOC knowingly violated the Sunshine Law when it refused to provide information related to the state’s execution witness selection process.
“Government function effectively only when it has the trust of the people, so transparency is essential,” said ACLU of Missouri Legal Director Tony Rothert. “Time and time again, the Missouri Department of Corrections continues to try and evade public accountability.”