Eighth Amendment Archives - Home Safety Tech Pros

Death row inmate held in solitary confinement for 26 years can sue, federal appeals court rules

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 12 Oct 2024 15:10:57 +0000

Criminal Justice

Death row inmate held in solitary confinement for 26 years can sue, federal appeals court rules

September 26, 2024, 9:22 am CDT

A death row inmate with a known history of serious mental illness can sue Pennsylvania’s corrections chief for holding him in solitary confinement for 26 years, a federal appeals court ruled last week. (Image from Shutterstock)

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Philadelphia ruled 2-1 that inmate Roy L. Williams can sue for alleged violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The Associated Press covered the Sept. 20 decision.

The prison chief did not have qualified immunity because “individuals with a known history of serious mental illness have a clearly established right not to be subjected to prolonged, indefinite solitary confinement—without penological justification—by an official who was aware of that history,” wrote Senior Judge Theodore McKee, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, citing a prior case.

Williams was in solitary confinement between 1993 and 2019, when the state corrections department changed its policy because of a legal settlement. But the department was on notice that its policy was cruel and unusual because of a 2014 report by the U.S. Department of Justice, McKee said.

The report said harsh solitary confinement for extended periods of time for prisoners with serious mental illness and intellectual disability “constitutes precisely the type of indifference to excessive risk of harm the Eighth Amendment prohibits.”

Judge Peter J. Phipps, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, dissented.

The majority “ignores this court’s precedent and misapplies foundational principles,” Phipps wrote.

Williams, who was convicted for killing a construction worker, had mental health issues since childhood, according to the opinion. He was 14 years old when he was involuntarily committed for suicidal threats and violent behavior.

Williams was represented by the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, which has filed similar lawsuits over solitary confinement.

Williams’ case “is the first to go up on appeal,” said Matthew Feldman, a supervising lawyer with the group, in an interview with the Associated Press. “So I think this opinion definitely will help all those other men whose cases are currently pending in trial courts right now.”

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5th Circuit rules for prisoner allowed to sleep no more than 3.5 hours per night

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 11:15:55 +0000

Eighth Amendment

5th Circuit rules for prisoner allowed to sleep no more than 3.5 hours per night

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 26, 2024, 3:10 pm CDT

A sleep-deprived prisoner can show that his treatment constituted cruel and unusual punishment without proving that his health issues stemmed from the restricted bedtime hours, a federal appeals court has ruled. (Photo from Shutterstock)

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans ruled for Texas inmate Michael Garrett in a March 22 opinion. He is incarcerated in the Estelle Unit in Huntsville, Texas, where inmates are afforded only three and a half hours of sleep per night.

Bedtime is 10:30 p.m., and breakfast begins at about 2 a.m. But sleep is not continuous. The prison conducts an inmate count at 1 a.m.

The author of the March 22 opinion is Judge Edith Brown Clement, an appointee of former President George W. Bush. Her opinion was joined by two appointees of former President Donald Trump, Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt and Judge Andrew S. Oldham.

Garrett suffers from migraines, seizures, vertigo, a skin condition, edema, hypertension and kidney disease.

A federal judge had ruled against Garrett for two reasons. First, the judge said, Garrett didn’t prove a substantial risk of serious harm because he didn’t show a cause-and-effect relationship between the sleep deprivation and his health complaints. Second, the judge said, Garrett hadn’t established deliberate indifference by prison officials because the schedule was based on a legitimate penological interest.

The 5th Circuit said the judge was wrong on both issues.

A prisoner only had to show a substantial risk of serious harm, not actual harm, the appeals court said. And, under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, a prison’s penological purpose has no bearing on conditions-of-confinement claims, the appeals court said.

The case returns to the district court for application of the correct legal standards, according to a March 25 press release by Haynes Boone, which represented Garrett on a pro bono basis.

“This ruling marks an important victory and key step in Mr. Garrett’s decadelong quest for an ordinary night’s sleep,” said Hanes Boone associate Chris Knight in the press release.

He argued the case before the 5th Circuit in December.

The case is also important, Knight said, because it abrogates 5th Circuit decisions that had applied the wrong standard.

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Idaho legislators advance bill to execute child rapists

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 19:00:28 +0000

Idaho Rep. Bruce D. Skaug addresses the state legislature about H.B. 515, a measure that would allow for the execution of certain sex offenders who victimize children.

Republican lawmakers in Idaho have proposed a new law that would allow certain sex crimes against children to be punishable by death. The move positions the state to join Florida in adopting a controversial measure that conflicts directly with Supreme Court precedent saying such executions would violate the Eighth Amendment.

Passed 57-11 mainly along party lines Tuesday, House Bill 515 amends the statute covering lewd conduct with child under age 12 with aggravating circumstances to carry a penalty of capital punishment. Co-sponsor Rep. Bruce Skaug, a Republican, has said that the death penalty would be used only for the most heinous cases such as repeat offenders. The bill next heads to the Idaho Senate for committee review.

Initially, Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen, also a Republican, voted against the bill, but later reversed her decision once the vote had been ratified. Michelsen did not comment on the reasons for her changed vote. Prior to the vote, Mickelson told the Idaho Capital Sun that while she shares concerns over heinous crimes, that Idaho money would be better spent waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on other cases — referring to similar laws passed recently in Florida that are expected to reach the high court.

“There is a deep, dark, dark side in our culture, and it’s our job to protect the children,” said Skaug. “There are times when things are so wicked that retribution is appropriate.”

Skaug said that imposition of a death sentence under the law would be “very rare,” but promised, “but it will happen.”

He added, “And I say to you when you see that case, you read it in the newspaper you’re going to say this is the once case this needs to happen.”

Currently, Idaho law allows the capital punishment only in first-degree murder cases.

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in the case of Kennedy v. Louisiana that the Eighth Amendment prohibits the death penalty for child rapists. Skaug said on the Idaho house floor that he believed that case was wrongly decided and made clear that he considered the legality of executing child rapists unsettled.

“Well there’s constitutional and there’s constitutional,” Skaug told House lawmakers. “Depends on the court of the day.”

Kennedy v. Louisiana was decided by a closely divided Court. None of the five justices — Anthony Kennedy, John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer, David Souter, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg — who made up the majority are still on the Court.

Those in dissent were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas — three of whom are still on the bench, joined now by justices who have taken even more conservative positions than the late Justice Scalia did in many cases. Given the Court’s current makeup, the issue of capital punishment for child rape could very well be reversed.

Skaug told the Idaho legislature that he believed the current Court, without the five justices who made up the Kennedy v. Louisiana majority, would rule differently on the issue of executing child rapists.

ACLU of Idaho spokesperson Rebecca De León said that litigating the constitutionality of House Bill 515 was “a complete waste of taxpayer dollars.”

“I highly doubt it will reach the Supreme Court because the Supreme Court has already ruled on this,” De León continued. “We already have laws in place that punish people that don’t violate their Eighth Amendment rights.

Other opponents echoed De León’s concerns.

Rep. Jack Nelsen, the lone remaining Republican opponent of the bill, said he was primarily concerned about the judicious use of taxpayer money.

“Florida already passed this. It’s obviously in the courts,” Nelsen told the Idaho Capital Sun. “I see no reason to spend hard-earned Idaho taxpayer’s dollars on a bill that’s a little bit of time and patience, we’ll know what the outcome is.”

Likewise, Rep. John Gannon, a Democrat, said the House floor that the bill was unconstitutional and predicted that the Supreme Court would not reverse itself. Gannon said funding would be better used hiring additional detectives to solve crimes.

Nearly a year ago, Idaho passed a law that would allow death row inmates to be executed by firing squad.

Idaho last executed Richard Albert Leavitt in 2012 via lethal injection. The state is planning to execute serial killer Thomas Creech on Feb. 28. Creech is Idaho’s longest-serving death row inmate, who has been awaiting execution for over 44 years.

Another inmate, Gerald Pizzuto, Jr., a terminally ill man, has been on death row for three decades for the killing of two gold prospectors in 1985. Pizzuto’s execution was scheduled for last March, but was stayed because Idaho could not obtain the necessary drugs for use in the execution. The lack of available chemicals was one reason why Idaho chose to revive the legality of firing squad as a means of execution.

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Alabama ready to help other states with ‘humane’ nitrogen executions after gas caused inmate to ‘shake and writhe’

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 18:45:42 +0000

Death Penalty

Alabama ready to help other states with ‘humane’ nitrogen executions after gas caused inmate to ‘shake and writhe’

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 30, 2024, 8:58 am CST

Alabama is ready to help other states carry out “humane” nitrogen gas executions after using it for the first time Thursday to kill inmate Kenneth Smith, the state’s attorney general has said. (Image from Shutterstock)

Alabama is ready to help other states carry out “humane” nitrogen gas executions after using it for the first time Thursday to kill inmate Kenneth Smith, the state’s attorney general has said.

Republican Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall called the execution “humane” in a Jan. 25 press release, even though a report by a reporter from the Associated Press said Smith “began to shake and writhe violently, in thrashing spasms and seizure-like movements” after the execution began. The shaking continued for at least two minutes.

The U.N. Human Rights Office and the European Union criticized the execution method, USA Today reports.

In a press conference Friday, Marshall said Alabama stands ready to help other states with nitrogen hypoxia executions, Reuters reports.

“Alabama has done it, and now so can you,” he said.

Oklahoma and Mississippi have approved nitrogen gas executions, according to Reuters.

Marshall also indicated that 43 other Alabama inmates have sought nitrogen gas executions.

Smith was executed for his role in the 1988 murder-for-hire killing of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, a pastor’s wife. The pastor, who later killed himself, allegedly sought the murder to collect on an insurance policy.

Smith was initially scheduled for execution in November 2022, but executioners were unable to insert an intravenous line before the death warrant expired.

The U.S. Supreme Court had twice declined to stop the execution, in decisions Jan. 24 and 25, the New York Times reports.

On Jan. 24, the Supreme Court refused to block the execution based on the argument that the second try constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

On Jan. 25, the high court refused to act based on an argument that Alabama wasn’t ready to try the untested execution method, subjecting him to an unconstitutional risk of cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court’s three liberal justices dissented.

“Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its ‘guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent.

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Supreme Court doesn’t stop nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas

homesafetytechpros — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 21:59:11 +0000

U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court doesn’t stop nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 25, 2024, 10:26 am CST

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to intervene in the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in one of two pending appeals. (Image from Shutterstock)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to block the execution of a death row inmate who claims that he would be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment if Alabama tries to execute him again—this time using nitrogen hypoxia.

The Supreme Court declined to intervene in the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in one of two pending appeals. The Eighth Amendment argument before the high court was based on Alabama’s second attempt to kill the convicted murderer after executioners were unable to insert an intravenous line in November 2022, the New York Times reports here and here.

Smith’s lawyers say the experience caused trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.

A second appeal claims that Alabama isn’t ready to try the untested nitrogen hypoxia execution method, and that the mask that it is using to deliver the nitrogen could let in oxygen, prolonging the death process, according to the New York Times.

Smith’s lawyers planned to take that issue to the Supreme Court after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Atlanta denied his injunction request Wednesday.

Other publications covering the case, besides the New York Times, include Reuters, the Washington Post and Law Dork.

Smith’s execution was scheduled for Thursday evening. He was convicted for his role in the 1988 murder-for-hire killing of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, a pastor’s wife.

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