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Judge to decide if state must provide execution drug labels

Judge to decide if state must provide execution drug labels

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas judge has opened a hearing on whether the state must give a lawyer package labels from recently acquired execution drugs.

Lawyer Steven Shults says the state's Freedom of Information law requires Arkansas to hand over information about the drugs.

Lawyers for the state say a different portion of the law says the material must be kept secret.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Mackie Pierce said Tuesday that part of the case will turn on whether a manufacturer can also be identified as a seller or supplier.

The Associated Press in 2015 used package labels to help identify the likely manufacturers of Arkansas' execution drugs. Lawyers for the state say they don't want another similar disclosure if the labels from a newer set of drugs are again made public.