Florida's Double Execution

Carrying out multiple executions within a day is rare in the modern era, with only two states doing so in the past 26 years: Arkansas in 2017 and Texas in 2000. Florida hasn’t executed more than one person in a single day since 1964, according to the state’s correctional records.

The Supreme Court rejected final appeals in two death penalty cases from Florida. A core concern: Florida was executing two people on the same day. 

Questions have arisen about the state's lethal injection execution protocols after execution logs were released last year that seem to show cases where insufficient or even different chemicals were used, and autopsy records for 33 executed inmates that showed each one suffered flash pulmonary edema, which causes a feeling like drowning.

That makes it more likely for problems to occur. Problems repeatedly alleged to have been ongoing. Not that anyone, except for Sotomayor (once), said a word about such claims.

Occhicone, convicted of the 1986 murder of his ex-fiancée's parents, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection six hours after the planned execution of another man, former Lake County police officer James Duckett, convicted of the 1987 rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa Mae McAbee. If both executions go as planned, it would be the first multiple execution in Florida since 1964.

 

Florida continues to execute people first sentenced years back. They keep on having a new "oldest inmate to be executed," this time someone eighty. That adds another layer to the reasons for complaint: older people having various ailments affecting the execution. 

These lengthy delays create two special constitutional difficulties. First, a lengthy delay in and of itself is especially cruel because it “subjects death row inmates to decades of especially severe, dehumanizing conditions of confinement.” Second, a lengthy delay undermines the death penalty’s penological rationale.

There remains the general concern regarding executing people after such a long time, which no current justice has deemed problematic. The second crime specifically is particularly heinous. But it happened 40 years ago.

Volokh Conspiracy had several Supreme Court posts, including talking about leaks. One comment (not from a troll) noted that the justices explained their "decisions." 

That is bullshit unless you are using it narrowly to apply to a small subset of decision-making. Steve Vladeck's book covers that ground. Today's "no comment" orders underline the point. A "decision" was made. No explanation.

Many will say that the final appeals were weak tea. They don't deserve any comment. 

I disagree, including when the challenge regards something occurring only for the third time in sixty years. The last time didn't go smoothly. 

Either way, a decision was made. No comment. It's the shadow docket. Sorry, Justice Kagan. 

Florida executed both. 

One thing that stands out in that discussion is that a jury split 7-5 on giving one of the two the death penalty. This sort of thing repeatedly occurred. But it doesn't really become less troubling. 

The other (more heinous) defendant partially alleged innocence. DNA evidence that might provide proof, however, was at best inconclusive. 

I have not found a comprehensive take on how recent executions in Florida match the allegations of problems. Each article I see simply states the person was executed.