SCOTUS Watch: More Executions

Ronald Heath

The Supreme Court, without comment, rejected a final appeal on the day Heath was scheduled to die. The result is probably justified given the law in place. Still, before a final sign-off for deprivation of life, an explanation is warranted. 

The appeal concerned alleged problems with the execution protocol. Such problems are serious, but this Supreme Court has shown little concern about them. They were not going to do so here. 

A liberal writing a statement would have been nice. He was executed later in the day. 

Florida continues to execute people for decades (1989) old crimes. I continue to find that problematic, constitutionally or otherwise (see Glossip v. Gross, Breyer's dissent). 

Heath's brother pleaded guilty and received life imprisonment. They murdered a travelling salesman in a robbery. Some legal claims:

The Florida Supreme Court denied appeals filed by Ronald Heath last week. His attorneys had argued that Florida corrections officials had mismanaged their own death penalty protocols, that the state's secretive clemency process blocked due process, that Heath's incarceration as a juvenile stunted his brain development, and that jurors did not recommend the death penalty unanimously.

[The unanimous jury issue has been a repeat loser, though on some basic level it does seem wrong.] 

One anti-death penalty discussion notes that Heath's brother was the triggerman. Prosecutors said Ronald Heath also murdered someone else. Plus, at sixteen, he murdered someone with two others. 

Heath was released early for that previous crime, which is understandable since he was a teenager. He deserved a long prison sentence. It is doubtful he would continue a life of violent crime in his mid-60s. 

An execution over 35 years after the crime, at any rate, is a dubious matter. Such dangerous people being incarcerated, at least during their violent years, is justified. The lottery capital punishment system is not.

Kendrick Simpson 

Simpson murdered two people twenty years ago. 

The details are aggravating. The judge claimed he showed "no remorse." 

Simpson’s lawyers told the board that Simpson was sexually abused as a child and his mother was addicted to crack cocaine. That trauma continued into his adulthood after someone shot him five times in New Orleans in 2004, leading to 16 surgeries. 

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 against recommending clemency. So, even here, there was only a borderline rejection of not executing him.

His final appeal to SCOTUS flagged alleged due process problems with the state not properly hearing certain claims. Same deal: denied, no comment. 

Oklahoma executed him. 

ETA: Also, in death penalty news.

Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of 40 people on federal death row. Three infamous mass murderers are still on death row. 

Trump then ordered twenty-one to be sent to a supermax prison. A Trump nominated judge ruled that this was done without proper due process. 

Various others might be prosecuted for state capital crimes. This would be quite expensive and likely lead to years (if not decades) of appeals. 

Another person (not of this bunch) was sent to a state that executed him last year. The Trump 1.0 Justice Department waited until mid-2020 to early 2021 to execute people. So, it might be a while now, too.