Judge says Idaho prisons must reveal execution drug source

A judge says Idaho prison officials must release several execution-related documents, including some that will reveal where the state obtained the lethal injection drugs used in its last execution.

Fourth District Judge Lynn Norton made the ruling Thursday, finding that Idaho Department of Correction officials acted frivolously and withheld the records in bad faith when the department mostly denied a public record request from University of Idaho professor Aliza Cover in 2017. Idaho Department of Correction officials declined to comment, saying they were still reviewing the ruling. ALCU of Idaho attorney Molly Kafka, who represented Cover in the lawsuit, says the ruling shows Idaho officials need to stop playing games with the Public Records Act.

Prison officials have long said they fear they won’t be able to obtain the drugs needed for future executions if their potential sources believe they could be exposed.