[1] The law makes the identities of people who prescribe drugs used in lethal injections, as well as those of the companies that produce and supply them, state secrets.
[2] It also makes the identities of prison staff who carry out executions a state secret.
[5] On July 18, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Gail S. Tusan granted a stay on Hill's execution, on the basis that the secrecy law violated the First Amendment by concealing information "essential to the determination of the efficacy and potency of lethal injection drugs" from the public.
[6] The state appealed this ruling, and in May 2014, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the secrecy law.
The five dissenting judges in this ruling warned of the dangers of the secrecy law's effects—namely, not knowing the qualifications of the company that made the drug or its source.