ATLANTA — Georgia’s law that keeps secret the source of its execution drug is constitutional, the state’s highest court ruled Monday, though two justices worried that confidentiality could lead to botched executions like the one in Oklahoma last month.
In a 5-to-2 decision, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling that granted a stay of execution to convicted killer Warren Lee Hill. His lawyers argued they need to know where the drug comes from so they know whether they have grounds to challenge it on the basis of the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
The source of execution drugs has become contentious in the United States since major drugmakers, many based in Europe, began refusing to sell their products if they were to be used in an execution.
Like some other states, Georgia used a compounding pharmacy in July to get pentobarbital for Hill’s planned execution. The state has declined to identify the compounding pharmacy, citing the 2013 law.
Similar laws in other states face challenges, including a lawsuit filed by several media outlets challenging Missouri’s law that prohibits disclosing the name of anyone who is part of the ‘‘execution team,’’ which the state interprets to include the drug provider.
Hill was sentenced to death for the 1990 beating death of fellow inmate Joseph Handspike. At the time, Hill was already serving a life sentence for the 1986 slaying of his girlfriend, Myra Wright.
A lawyer for Hill, Brian Kammer, said he plans to ask the high court to reconsider and will turn to the US Supreme Court if that is denied.