LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An effort to sanction an Arkansas judge who participated in a death penalty demonstration the same day he blocked the use of an execution drug has more to do with displeasure at the sight of his protest than any ethical violations, an attorney for the judge told a disciplinary panel on Friday.

A judicial ethics commission held a hearing on Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen's request to dismiss the complaint against him over the demonstration last year. Griffen was photographed on a cot outside the governor's mansion last year wearing an anti-death penalty bu...