WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an Alabama proposal to execute death row inmates by lethal injection, leaving in place a lower court ruling that death row inmates’ preference for lethal gases was a viable alternative. rice field.
Kenneth Smith, who was sentenced to death for the murder of Elizabeth Sennett in 1988, opposed execution by lethal injection, which is painful. He argued that this violated his right to immunity from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.
Smith suggested using lethal gas instead.
In November, the Atlanta-based Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled against Smith, saying that because the state has authorized the use of lethal gas, Smith may seek alternative methods of execution.
The Court of Appeal’s decision was handed down on the same day as the state’s decision. unsuccessful attempt to execute Smith was killed by lethal injection. Authorities called off the execution after struggling to insert an intravenous line before the death warrant expired at midnight. The Supreme Court, which regularly authorizes executions, had previously authorized executions to continue.
Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said they would have ruled in favor of the state.
“If the question is whether the Eighth Amendment mandates that the state’s chosen method of execution of the plaintiff be replaced by another method, then whether the state’s statutes permit the use of the alternative method yet to be carried out. It is entirely irrelevant, if nothing else, “sometime in the unspecified future,” Thomas wrote.
Alabama officials said the lethal gas was approved as a method of execution in 2018, but the execution procedure has yet to be finalized. The prisoner was given 30 days to choose another method, an option Smith did not choose at the time, the state said.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is disappointed with the Supreme Court’s action, and the office is “reviewing the decision to determine next steps,” spokeswoman Amanda Priest said. .
Smith’s attorney, Robert Glass, declined to comment. In court documents, he said the state was already planning to use the lethal gas to execute other death row inmates.
The case follows the Supreme Court in 2015 Ruling Refused to challenge the lethal injection protocol used by Oklahoma.
Furthermore, the Court has clarified that if an inmate wishes to challenge the method of execution, he must show that he has a viable alternative that can be implemented immediately.
In a case that followed in 2019, a court ruled that prisoners had no guarantees against a Missouri convicted murderer who sought death by lethal gas rather than lethal injection because of a rare medical condition. made a verdict. “Painless Death”.
Supporters of the death penalty have criticized lawyers’ last-minute arguments to delay executions. During oral arguments in the 2015 case, Alito called it a “guerrilla war against the death penalty.”
was there 9 executions The Death Penalty Information Center says there has been no death penalty in the United States so far this year.
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