The ACLU of Nevada filed suit today to obtain vital public records regarding the upcoming execution of Scott Dozier.
Death row inmate Scott Dozier is scheduled to be executed on July 11, 2018— just eight days from today— but the Nevada Department of Corrections has failed to inform the public about almost any details of this most consequential action. It has not issued a press release acknowledging it will execute Mr. Dozier nor has it publicly stated the drugs or protocol it intends to use to kill Mr. Dozier.
Worse, the only information provided by the Department of Corrections has been contradictory and misleading statements to the media. In a single day, different news organizations were told first that the Department would use the previous protocol due to unexpired drugs and then later told that the lethal injection protocol was “still evolving.” The Department of Corrections lack of transparency is especially egregious as Mr. Dozier’s execution will be Nevada’s first in over a decade and will take place in a newly built and never used execution chamber.
The ACLU of Nevada submitted a public records request on June 15th asking for various records relating to lethal injection drugs and the Department of Corrections’ execution protocol, but the Department has refused to release any information prior to this execution.
The suit seeks to force NDOC to release these records.
ACLU of Nevada Legal Director Amy Rose said:
“The Nevada Department of Corrections has abandoned even basic principles of transparency and opted for misinformation, stonewalling, and extreme secrecy instead. It’s dangerous for our state to undertake its first execution in 12 years under these conditions. Without transparency and accountability, we are very concerned about the legality of the protocol and the possibility of a botched execution.”
