A United States federal judge delayed two Texas inmates' executions scheduled for April, after ruling that the Lone Star State had withheld data on the organizations that provide lethal injection drugs.
U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore wrote in her ruling that she would temporarily suspend the executions of Tommy Lynn Sells and Ramiro Hernandez, Wednesday.
"The court stays plaintiffs' scheduled executions until the information identified is produced," Gilmore wrote in Houston.
The case comes as states scramble to secure doses of lethal chemicals, after constraints placed on distribution corporations have stalled sales.
A handful of recent court rulings have ordered officials to publicize information about the drugs used in lethal injections, according to Reuters. Judges have stated that concealing this kind of data is unconstitutional.
Oklahoma's county district court Judge Patricia Parrish recently ruled the state's methods and procedures for executing state prisoners violated the due process protections of the United States Constitution.
In Wednesday's injunction, Gilmore wrote that Texas officials hadn't fully disclosed key details about the drugs.
"While the state has provided plaintiffs information about the process by which they will be executed, it has masked information about the product that will kill them," the ruling read.
According to Reuters, Sells was scheduled for a Thursday execution, after he was found guilty of killing a 13-year-old girl. Hernandez was to be put to death on April 9, for murder and rape that occurred 17 years ago.
Texas, a state that has executed more inmates than any other in America since 1976, announced last month that it had secured a new batch of lethal injection drugs, but didn't specify where exactly the chemicals had been obtained.
A judge in Texas then instructed prison officials to publicize the company that had supplied the drugs, Reuters reported.
