Judge: Kentucky to Explain Lethal Injection Drugs

A judge says Kentucky officials should be prepared to explain how and why they arrived at what drugs to use in a lethal injection and what doses of the narcotics to administer. 

Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd didn't issue an immediate order Monday spelling out how far the state's explanation must go. But Shepherd told attorneys during a hearing in Frankfort that attorneys for multiple condemned inmates have a "fair inquiry'' about the policy decisions. 

The issue is the latest in the decade-long battle over how Kentucky executes inmates and whether the current two-drug system, which mirrors the method used in Ohio, passes constitutional muster and was properly adopted. 

Shepherd halted all executions in the state in 2010 on the eve of a scheduled lethal injection.