24 May 2007 :

Missouri lawmakers passed a bill protecting the anonymity of the state's executioners and allowing them to sue anyone - even a news organization - who discloses their names.
Some of the 37 other states with the death penalty also shield the identities of their executioners. But if this measure is signed into law, Missouri may be the only state to attach a specific penalty to revealing the names.
The Missouri Press Association complained that the measure would violate the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press.
State Corrections Director Larry Crawford said the bill should make it easier to recruit a doctor to assist in executions. For the past year, Missouri has been unable to find a willing physician with an expertise in anesthesia, as demanded by a federal judge, and executions have been on hold.
Under the Missouri measure, members of the media or others who knowingly disclose the identity of executioners could be sued for damages. An earlier version of the bill would have made it a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
"I don't think the First Amendment allows any state to hold someone either criminally liable or liable for damages for publication of truthful information," said Jean Maneke, an attorney for the Missouri Press Association. A spokeswoman for Gov. Matt Blunt would not say whether he would sign the bill, which won final passage last Thursday. (See also June 26, Julyu 13, 14 and 25, Sept. 12, 2006).