Melanie Eversley

USA TODAY

A judge in Arkansas issued a restraining order Friday, barring use of a lethal drug that was to be used in the executions of six men who were to die within days, starting on Monday.

Pulaski County, Ark., Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen issued a temporary restraining order Friday barring Arkansas from using its supply of vecuronium bromide in the executions. Griffen's action effectively stops a series of executions that were drawing condemnation from death penalty opponents across the country.

Arkansas scheduled the deaths to take place in a short span of time in order to beat the expiration of the shelf life of midazolam, one of the three drugs used in its lethal injection protocol.

The drug is part of a three-drug protocol in Arkansas used for condemned inmates. After the sedative midazolam is administered, vecuronium bromide stops the breathing and potassium chloride stops the heart.

McKesson, a medical supply company based in San Francisco, has said the prison system bought vecuronium bromide believing it would be used for medical purposes. The company has said it had been reassured the drug would be returned and even issued a refund, but the drug was never returned.

The development came as the Arkansas Supreme Court issued an emergency stay to stop the execution of a seventh man who was to die Monday under the accelerated schedule.

Bruce Ward was scheduled to die for his conviction in the 1989 strangling of a woman at a convenience store where she worked. Ward's lawyer, public defender Scott Braden, has argued that Ward's severe schizophrenia would have made his execution unconstitutional.

"We are extremely grateful to the Arkansas Supreme Court for recognizing the serious issues presented in Mr. Ward's case," Braden told USA TODAY Friday night. "He is mentally ill and not competent to be executed under the Eighth Amendment," Braden said regarding the measure that forbids the federal government to impose cruel and unusual punishment.

​Ward's mental illness has rendered him unable to understand the gravity of his case or his execution, Braden has said.

The court did not offer a reason for its one-page decision, issued Friday afternoon. No one could be reached at the court's offices in Little Rock Friday evening.

The public defender's office in Little Rock, where Braden is based, represents four of the seven men scheduled for execution under the accelerated schedule.

Supreme Court ruling in 2015 may lead to 7 executions in 11 days

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker is also considering a request from two drug makers that their products not be used for capital punishment. Two pharmaceutical companies on Thursday filed a court brief asking the court to prohibit Arkansas from using their drug.

A prisons spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment Friday. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s office did not have an immediate comment on the supplier’s statement.

The Associated Press last year used redacted drug labels to identify Hospira, which was purchased by Pfizer, as the likely manufacturer of vecuronium bromide. Pfizer has objected to the use of its drugs in lethal injections and has put controls in place to prevent them from being used in executions. Pfizer said McKesson sold the drug to Arkansas without Pfizer’s knowledge. The company said it has asked the state twice to return any restricted Pfizer or Hospira drugs.

Fresenius Kabi USA and West-Ward Pharmaceuticals Corp. filed a friend of the court brief objecting to their drugs’ use in the executions. Fresenius Kabi said it appeared it had manufactured the potassium chloride the state plans to use, while West-Ward had previously been identified by the AP as the likely manufacturer of the state’s midazolam.

The execution timeline has drawn widespread condemnation from death penalty opponents. A rally at the Arkansas Capitol included actor Johnny Depp and Damien Echols, who spent nearly 18 years on Arkansas’ death row before he and two other men, known as the West Memphis Three, were freed in 2011 in a plea deal in which they maintained their innocence.

Arkansas has not executed an inmate since 2005 because of drug shortages and legal challenges.

Contributing: Associated Press