The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled that the state improperly adopted its three-drug method of lethally injecting condemned inmates.

The court says in a ruling issued Wednesday that the state must go back and readopt the method because officials did not follow state administrative procedures. That includes holding public hearings.

The challenge was brought by three death row inmates.

Kentucky's lethal injection method was previously challenged by one of the inmates, Ralph Baze.

That case rose all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and led all the states who use a similar method to Kentucky to halt lethal injections until it was upheld.

Wednesday's ruling does not affect the validity of the three-drug method.