A bipartisan group of Idaho House lawmakers signed off on a bill Thursday to hide the identities of lethal injection drug suppliers.
Under the proposal from Rep. Greg Chaney (R-Caldwell), the identities of anyone who compounds, synthesizes, tests, sells, supplies, manufactures, stores, transports, procures, dispensesor prescribes these drugs could not be revealed, even in court.
Idaho Department of Correction Director Josh Tewalt testified last week in a committee hearing that the state cannot buy these drugs to carry out an execution over fear of public backlash.
Chaney said that gives lawmakers a stark choice.
“As a functional matter, a no vote on this ends the death penalty in Idaho,” he said.
Lethal injection is currently the only execution method allowed under Idaho law, with corrections officials saying they’re hesitant to reinstate the firing squad.
“We don’t revel in administering this punishment, but this sentence for the victims and the victims’ families is appropriate,” Chaney said.
Utah brought back the firing squad in 2015 due to the shortage of execution drugs.
That shortage has been ongoing for more than a decade. European pharmaceutical companies prohibited the use of these drugs for executions and Europe banned their export in 2011.
Of the 27 states that have authorized the death penalty, Chaney said 19 of them enforced shield laws similar to his proposal.
Only Rep. Colin Nash (D-Boise) stood up to debate the bill. Nash said he doesn’t trust the government to carry out a constitutional execution with a veil of secrecy.
“I trust the government to pick up my trash on time,” he said. “I do not trust them to kill people using secret means, methods, practices and chemicals.”
The types of chemicals, the test results to prove their efficacy and the procedure by which the state would carry out an execution would remain public under the bill.
Idaho currently has seven men and one woman on death row.
The state has been trying to execute Gerald Pizzuto, who killed two people in 1985 in Idaho County, but his case has been bogged down in ongoing court battles.
Last year, the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole narrowly recommended commuting Pizzuto’s sentence to life in prison due to his deteriorating health.
But Gov. Brad Little swiftly rejected that recommendation, saying, “The severity of Pizzuto’s brutal, senseless and indiscriminate killing spree strongly warrants against commutation.”
A state district court judge earlier this month found Little didn’t have the power to reject a clemency recommendation, a decision the governor’s office said it would appeal.
Chaney’s bill passed the House on a 38-30 vote, with four Democrats supporting the measure. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.
Follow James Dawson on Twitter @RadioDawson for more local news.
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