Reports: Arkansas has drugs needed for executions

A delivery of a lethal drug inched the state of Arkansas closer to being able to resume executions, although a state Supreme Court hold remained in place Tuesday.

The state Department of Correction announced Tuesday that it had received enough of the shipment of the paralytic vecuronium bromide to execute eight inmates. That was the number of condemned men in Arkansas requesting the Supreme Court to review a ruling that allows the state to keep information about lethal drugs confidential, ABC News was reporting.

It was not clear when the shipment arrived. The drug does not expire until March 2018, according to ABC.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson, in Germany on a trade mission, told ABC through spokesman J.R. Davis that he was waiting for the Supreme Court ruling to take effect before he scheduled any executions. He also was waiting for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge to set execution dates, the spokeman told ABC.

The state Supreme Court upheld the secrecy law earlier this year, but executions cannot be scheduled until the justices deny the inmates' request.

The state's stockpile of the drug expired on June 30, leaving Arkansas without a way to execute anyone for the first time in more than a decade, KTHV reported.

The inmates seeking a review have said that the state's secrecy law regarding the drug could lead to cruel and unusual punishment. The inmates have said that if they don't get the rehearing they seek, they will take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Arkansas has 34 inmates on death row, including the eight involved in the case, ABC reported.