For the First Amendment, and for those who believe in transparent government, it was a significant victory on a sobering front. Witnesses should have access to view an execution from start to finish, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ing ruled late Friday. So at 10 a.m. today — when Richard Leavitt is scheduled to be killed in connection with the gruesome 1984 slaying of Danette Elg of Blackfoot — witnesses and reporters will be allowed to watch as corrections officials strap Leavitt to a gurney, and inset the IV catheter that will be used to kill Leavitt by lethal injection. However unsavory, this is a key step in an execution — a sentence carried out by the state, on behalf of its people. If a select group of witnesses is unable to watch this stage of the process, all Idahoans are forced to accept, on faith, the government’s assertion that an execution went smoothly, and was handled in a dignified manner. This is why the Statesman joined 16 other news organizations in a lawsuit seeking full witness access/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.

Thoughts?