INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
The Indiana Supreme Court has ruled prison officials can change execution
drugs without going through a public review.
The Indianapolis
Star reports the court Tuesday rejected a challenge by death row inmate Roy
Ward. The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled last June that the Department of
Correction didn’t follow proper procedures in selecting a new three-drug
combination in 2014.
However, the
Supreme Court in a unanimous nine-page ruling said the state’s new
three-drug combination is “not subject to the Administrative Rules and
Procedures Act.”
The state had
argued Indiana law doesn’t require such a rulemaking process and would
unduly delay executions. Indiana has 12 death row inmates but no executions
are currently scheduled.
Ward was convicted
in the 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne in Spencer County.