Ginni Thomas reportedly agreed to be interviewed by the 1/6 Committee. Will see what comes of it, but that's appreciated. Justice Thomas violated ethical rules, including as set forth by congressional legislation, by not recusing in Trump/election related cases. He should resign.
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Alan Miller, a trucker driver apparently with some issues, decided one day to murder two co-workers (and a third person he used to work with) with whom he had some sort of grudge. Alabama sentenced him to die. He probably has some sort of mental issue that makes this dubious.
[ETA: The mental concern still holds even if he does not meet the strict test necessary to make an execution unconstitutional. There is regularly a reminder of the fact murderers are involved here when people are upset at the end when they are executed. These people regularly have problems that raise various concerns.
But, yes, many of them committed particularly horrible crimes. Miller is a bit harder as a subject of scorn. He didn't kill for money, an act of cruelty, or under some sort of drug induced rage. For some reason, he snapped, and murdered three people. Helped by our free access of highly dangerous weaponry. He was properly confined. Execution is less defensible.]
Over twenty years pass. Alabama, who botched two lethal injections recently, decided to go for a third. SCOTUS last year rejected without comment an argument that the 10-2 jury decision to execute violated a former ruling that required a clear understanding from the jury what exactly their judgment for death entails.
The problem here is that it seems like Miller took the opportunity to be executed by nitrogen gas. Others have tried to be given that option, but for whatever reason, it was determined they were procedurally blocked. A district and court of appeals, and Alabama is not liberal territory there, both decided that Miller had the right to do so based on the facts.
To quote a local paper:
Miller, 57, maintains that he chose to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia in 2018 because he is afraid of needles and had previous employment experience working with chemicals. He has accused state officials, who say they have no record of his election, of losing a form he says he submitted to prison staff in which he chose death by nitrogen hypoxia.
Lethal injections, with procedure problems, lack of drugs (or the drugs best for executions), and other issues have not been found to be as ideal of a method as first assumed. The latest method (though there is some suggestion at least one state wants to try the firing squad or electrocutions again) deemed ideal is nitrogen. Supposedly, will just be painless.
For whatever reason, even though it has been talked about for a few years now, no state actually used it. One concern is that it will leak out and endanger staff. For whatever reason, after Alabama suggested it would do it, they decided not. They argued Miller didn't have proof he chose the method (dispute over that matter has led to multiple lawsuits). Again, the courts determined that the facts are on his side.
Again, I don't think he should be executed anyway, especially after over twenty years from conviction. But, if he wants to use nitrogen gas, well, the state offered the choice. The district court agreed. The court of appeals 2-1 upheld. It is ridiculous the procedural process in place sets this up as a last minute litigation issue -- the case going to the Supreme Court shortly before the scheduled execution and the final decision happening after 9PM -- but well, that is how things go these days.
The Supreme Court (5-4, Barrett joining the liberals, not the first time she did so in a death penalty case) vacated the stay of execution. Why? Because they said so. Neither side actually explained (1) why a factual based decision should be overruled or (2) why it should not be. Since Sotomayor has repeatedly been concerned about the dangers of lethal injections being botched, I sorta hoped she would at least have a statement.
This is outrageous. The vote is wrong. It's more wrong to vacate, but it's wrong not to explain dissenting too. The justices (or whatever the Trump trio are) are supposed to explain themselves. But, it's the shadow docket. So, again, the "shadow knows" why.
Fuck you. Seriously. Fuck you. It's someone's life. If you aren't going to strongly dissent, and the Supreme Court yet again finding a way to avoid having a state use a method that allegedly is better is a good time to do so, you just let them not be a credible institution without any effort.
Justice "we will get some of her insights about criminal justice" Jackson isn't helping much yet either.
Alan Miller being executed by lethal injection is bad. The United Supreme Court failing to do the bare minimum isn't great either.
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SCOTUS lifted the stay of execution with about three hours left local time before the writ of execution runs out. It's ridiculous that the whole thing is scheduled this way. The sane thing is to have a bigger buffer for the final appeal.
Still, three hours would seem to be enough time. Something happened. The media witnesses was not present when from the moment the prisoner enters the execution chamber. So, it is not clear what happened. At 11:47 PM, we get some implictation maybe things were cancelled. The government will not say when asked by the press if he is still alive.
Was something botched AGAIN? Over a half hour later via reporter on Twitter:
UPDATE: ADOC Commissioner says they did start trying to access Alan Miller’s veins but due to time constraints there wasn’t enough time to finish the protocol before the death warrant expired. Miller is alive and back in his cell.
Yeah. Well oiled machine. So glad not a single justice ("justice") explained their vote. The ability to get a blow by blow account is useful, morbid, and in these cases rather depressing.
The incompetence underlines that the lower courts were correct and the Supreme Court's action is outrageous. The state repeatedly had issues with this procedure. Another procedure was at least theoretically available. If not, apparently the state can't be trusted doing the other right.
ETA: There were no orders on Friday.
A bit more on this case. This NYT article summarizes things well. I also saw a few people suggesting Barrett's Catholic faith influenced her decision to join the liberal in dissent. We have a small sample size. Maybe so. Still, her faith didn't lead her to join liberal dissents in late Trump executions.
Baze v. Rees was an early Roberts Court case on method of execution procedures. The justices 7-2 upheld the lethal injection procedures in place, splitting on rationale.
One point noted by the plurality was that historically the method of execution was generally a matter handled politically, and on that front the trend was in a positive direction. Alabama took advantage of this opening and added a new execution method. System worked!
Not quite. The state found a way around actually providing that method. They also repeatedly had problems with procedure. Each state is not equally at fault in this respect. Oklahoma also has stood out. From what I can tell, on this specific issue, Texas does not. This is not just "you will just find something wrong" thing.
This case provided a chance for the Supreme Court to send a message that the death penalty is both constitutional and procedural due process should carefully be followed. Instead, it (yet again, without explanation) enabled procedural problems. And, since it did not actually explain itself, lower courts basically have to read the tea leaves on what is appropriate.
The botched execution also highlighted the state's issues with media. A major concern over the last few years has been providing openness regarding execution procedures, including the drugs used. States repeatedly have not provided information here. They also have had problems with media witnesses, including limits on the number, botching making sure they could see the execution, and limiting how much of the procedure they case see. There were also theater of absurd concerns about what women witnesses were wearing.
This raises both due process and freedom of the press concerns. Media witnesses provide an important surrogate to the general public to help make sure things are going along properly. At least, in general, the media is there to tell us what is happening. And, if the information (such as what drugs are used and how they are obtained, including possibly drugs that won't do that job) is not available, there is an increased chance of harm.
I am against the death penalty. There is a different concern here. The public needs to be fairly assured that the government is properly doing its job. We might not like various governmental policies. A more basic thing is a bare requirement of due process. There are various ways to ensure this happens, even with our currently tainted Supreme Court.
I am wary in assuming that nitrogen gas will significantly improve the status of executions. It does remove certain concerns, including trying to find drugs and medical ethics concerns involved in using a medical method to execute. A few states now have it as an option. A few years in, however, we have yet to seen someone executed using it.
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