JUST BEFORE AND RIGHT AFTER BLOCKING ARKANSAS EXECUTIONS, JUDGE JOINED DEATH PENALTY PROTESTERS

Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Wendell Griffen strapped himself down on a cot to simulate a condemned prisoner laying on a death chamber gurney

As Arkansas prepared to execute eight men between Monday and the end of the month, Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Wendell Griffen joined two death penalty protests the same day he issued a temporary restraining order blocking all executions.

On Friday at 2 p.m., Griffen attended an anti-death penalty rally at the state capitol in Little Rock. He returned to his courtroom in time to issue the restraining order at 4:25 p.m. And an hour later he joined protesters in front of the Governor’s Mansion where he strapped himself down on a cot to simulate a condemned prisoner laying on a death chamber gurney.

In a blog post earlier this month, Griffen condemned the approaching executions and accused Arkansas officials of planning “to commit a series of homicides.”

In blocking the executions, Griffen acted on a lawsuit filed by McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc., which objected to the use in executions of the vecuronium bromide the pharmaceutical manufacturer had sold to the state.

Griffen is a perfect example of a judge who delivers rulings based on his personal feelings rather than on the letter of the law. Whether they are strongly opposed to abortions or in favor of gun controls for instance, such judges are found everywhere on the local, state and federal levels, all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. In this case we have a state judge who is obviously opposed to capital punishment.