Guv vows to restart Big Government killing as soon as possible...
By Brad Friedman on 6/22/2012, 10:56am PT  

The AP report is not as encouraging as it initially appears...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) --- The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the state's execution law Friday, calling it unconstitutional.

In a split decision, the high court sided with 10 death row inmates who argued that, under Arkansas' constitution, only the Legislature can set execution policy. Legislators in 2009 voted to give that authority to the Department of Correction.

"It is evident to this court that the Legislature has abdicated its responsibility and passed to the executive branch, in this case the (Arkansas Department of Correction), the unfettered discretion to determine all protocol and procedures, most notably the chemicals to be used, for a state execution," Justice Jim Gunter wrote in the majority opinion.

But don't get too excited. You fans of Big Government --- the Biggest Government of All --- will likely be back in business and killing your fellow U.S. citizens again soon...

"The justices did not declare that the death penalty is unconstitutional in Arkansas or that lethal injection is unconstitutional," prisons spokeswoman Dina Tyler said. "What the court is talking about are the mechanics."

She said the correction department could not currently execute anyone in part because the court's decision got rid of the template for lethal injection procedures.
...
"The death penalty is still the law in Arkansas, but the Department of Correction now has no legal way to carry out an execution until a new statute is established," [Arkansas' Democratic Gov. Mike] Beebe said in a statement.

Beebe said he hopes to have a proposed remedy in the next few months after meeting with the state's attorney general and legislative leaders.

Thanks, Guv! Your swift attention to meeting with your attorneys and legislators to swiftly work out how to best and most efficiently kill the "40 men awaiting execution on Arkansas' death row," and any that may come after them, is greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work! Love, Satan.

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Article Categories: Arkansas, Rights And Freedoms, Accountability, Death Penalty