Florida suspends execution pending Supreme Court decision

[JURIST]

The Florida Supreme Court [official website] on Tuesday granted a petition [order, PDF] to stay an inmate's execution until after the US Supreme Court [official website] reviews the constitutionality of lethal injection protocols in Oklahoma. This is the stay of execution outside of Oklahoma following the Supreme Court's decision to grant a petition for certiorari in Glossip v. Gross [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] in late January. Florida uses virtually an identical combination of drugs [procedures, PDF] as Oklahoma, so the Florida supreme court is erring on the side of "extreme caution." Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted in the Warner opinion [text, PDF], which preceded the Supreme Court's grant of certiorari for the Oklahoma case, that Florida's success with the three-drug combination used in lethal injections is subject to question because the paralytic drug may mask the ineffectiveness of the anesthetic. The dissenting opinion in the Florida order reasons that although Florida's execution methods are similar to Oklahoma's, the Supreme Court's review of Oklahoma procedures does not automatically bar Florida from continuing with its practices. The execution of Jerry William Correll was scheduled for February 26. Correll was convicted nearly three decades ago for stabbing his ex-wife, daughter and two others.

The US Supreme Court in January granted certiorari [order list, PDF] to determine whether Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol is unconstitutional [JURIST report] under the Eighth Amendment. The case originated when four death row inmates filed a complaint against the Director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections for the use of the midazolam drug in the state's lethal injection protocol as cruel and unusual punishment, alleging that the drug can cause a substantial risk of "severe pain, needless suffering, and a lingering death." The inmates also allege that a negligent administering of the drug can cause one to be conscious for the remainder of the lethal injection process, as evidenced by Oklahoma's botched execution [JURIST report] of former inmate Clayton Lockett. Last week Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf declared a moratorium on the death penalty [JURIST report], which will remain in effect until he receives and reviews a report from the Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Committee on Capital Punishment. The governor expressed concerns over serious flaws in the death penalty system in the state, which he said have made sentencing "error prone, expensive, and anything but infallible."