Georgia Department of Corrections v. Jordan and Chase
Georgia has executed 17 prisoners with a pentobarbital-only protocol since Jordan v. Hall was filed in April 2015. In the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, we served a subpoena for documents and testimony on the Georgia Department of Corrections. The Georgia DOC moved to quash the subpoena, arguing that its execution secrecy statute prevented our clients from getting information about Georgia’s use of pentobarbital.
The U.S. Magistrate Judge heard argument in Atlanta. That court ruled that the information was relevant to our clients’ case in Mississippi, but that the Georgia execution secrecy statute applied in Federal Court.
We have appealed this ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Briefs have been filed, but no ruling has been issued to date.