Texas’ top criminal appeals court has barred a civil court judge from issuing any orders in a lawsuit by three death row inmates who allege the state plans to use expired and unsafe drugs to execute them.
Attorneys for inmates Wesley Ruiz, John Balentine and Robert Fratta had asked a civil judge in Austin last month to issue a temporary order to stop the state from using the allegedly expired execution drugs. Fratta, who was not initially part of the lawsuit but later intervened, is the first of the three set for execution, next Tuesday. Balentine and Ruiz are scheduled for execution in February.
