The speedy legal back-and-forth continues.
This morning, attorneys for the state filed a reply brief to the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in response to an argument from attorneys for the men scheduled to be executed over 11 calendar days beginning today. The state wants the Eighth Circuit to override a stay of the executions granted by U.S. Judge Kristine Baker over the weekend.
In the brief, the state argues that attorneys for the men on death row are merely seeking to delay justice. Inmates’ attorneys have asked the Court not to decide in two days a matter on which Baker had heard 17 witnesses and included a transcript of their testimony of 1,300 pages and 90 exhibits. From the state’s reply brief:
While they suggest longer proceedings are necessary, they do not point to anything they would do differently in a longer proceeding. Indeed, the district court already conducted a four day hearing on Appellees’ claims and rejected all of them save two. In reality—like this entire proceeding—Appellees’ request is nothing more than an attempt to manipulate the judicial process and make it impossible for Arkansas to carry out Appellees’ just and lawful sentences.
