With court offices closed on weekends, it’s a little hard to keep up to date with the appeals process in the various court cases pertaining to executions.
But this has popped up:
The nine Death Row inmates whose suit led to a preliminary injunction Saturday by federal Kristine Baker, already appealed by the state, have filed notice of cross -appeal. They want to contest her finding that there was no constitutional violation in the state’s compressed execution schedule itself, though she found other constitutional shortcomings that prompted her to stay the executions.
The 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has docketed the case and assigned a new number to it, but as yet the on-line filing system shows no developments in that case. In a letter to Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Wendy Kelley, the director of the Correction Department, the clerk of court for the 8th Circuit, Michael Gans, provided filing instructions.
The letter perhaps only includes boilerplate language provided to attorneys about all filings, but its reference to a briefing schedule seems to argue against action in 24 hours. But I am only guessing.