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Ohio tried to execute Romell Broom once already — if you’ll recall, that was a physical horror and a procedural fiasco. 

For more, read our earlier posts on the Broom execution and its appeals through the Ohio state criminal justice system.

Now, the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that allowing the State of Ohio a "re-do" with the opportunity to execute Mr. Broom a second time is acceptable — it is not "cruel and unusual punishment’ as that is defined by the U.S. Constitution.

Read the Ohio Supreme Court March 2016 Opinion here (slip opinion). 

What happens next for Ohio Death Row Inmate Romell Broom?

Well, the actual execution will not be happening anytime soon.  All of Ohio’s executions are on hold until next year (2017) because they cannot find the drugs needed for their lethal injection method of execution.

And, Mr. Broom’s lawyers still have some tools to use.  Look for this case to be filed in the federal system, with a goal of having the United States Supreme Court on whether or not the Ohio Supreme Court’s take on "cruel and unusual" is correct.

And that brings up another question: what’s the stance of the new SCOTUS nominee on capital punishment?  Good question.

Now that the Florida death penalty scheme has been ruled unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Hurst v. Florida. what happens now?

1.  Florida Supreme Court Allows Feb 11 Execution to Proceed

That’s not an easy question to answer.  For one thing, the State of Florida is more than ready to keep its execution schedule. 

Cary Michael Lambrix is scheduled to die by lethal injection on February 11, 2016.  The Florida Supreme Court denied Lambrix’s request to delay that execution because of the Hurst decision.

2.  Florida Death Row Inmates Wanting New Sentencing Hearings

Meanwhile, a large part of the current Florida Death Row population were sentenced to death under the scheme that was held unconstitutional in Hurst.  They, of course, will be wanting to challenge that process and seek new sentencing hearings as a result.

Will this be granted to them?  Read the debate in a recent Orlando Sentinel article here.

3.  Florida Attorney General and Florida Legislature At Work on a Fix

As for Florida lawmakers, the Florida Attorney General issued a prompt news release after the Hurst opinion was issued. 

Pam Bondi stated that her office would be working with the current Florida Legislature to get a fix as soon as possible, and in the meantime, those cases currently on Death Row would be reviewed on a "case by case basis."

Yesterday, the State of Georgia executed Brian Keith Terrell for the June 1992 killing of John Watson. 

Terrell was convicted of murdering Watson after Watson demanded Terrell pay him back after Terrell forged some of Watson’s checks. 

It was an execution by lethal injection.  There are many who argue that Terrell was innocent of the crime. There are others that argue there may have been prosecutorial misconduct during his trial.

For more on these details, check out the CBS News article detailing Terrell’s case.

Meanwhile, the National Execution Calendar for 2015 is complete.  No more executions will take place this year. 

We have seen 28 people die as capital punishment in the United States this year.  Interesting point made by NPR:  this is the same number of deaths as those who died from lightening strikes.

For the complete list of 27 men and 1 woman who were executed in this country during 2015, all by lethal injection, check out the DPIC list.

We’ve discussed this in prior posts, but lots of people forget that there are legal and SCOTUS-approved methods of execution on the books in Florida, Texas, and other states other than lethal injection. 

Old Sparky Stands Ready

In Florida, execution by electrocution using an electric chair nicknamed "Old Sparky" remains a constitutionally acceptable method of capital punishment.  And while Old Sparky hasn’t been used in 16 years, it’s still available to the State of Florida. 

No one has dismantled Old Sparky.

For more on the historical use of the electric chair in U.S. executions, read our earlier post   Electric Chair Executions: Consider This Historical Alternative to Lethal Injection.

Doty’s Request to Circumvent Lethal Injection Method Is Logical

Which means that when Florida Death Row inmate Wayne Doty requested that the electric chair be the execution method used for him, he was pretty savvy.  There’s no legal controversy pending before the Supreme Court of the United States over the electric chair like there is lethal injection methods and procedures. 

Wayne Doty wants to be executed as soon as possible for his "spiritual freedom."  By opting for the electric chair, he has a much higher chance of achieving that goal because he’s circumventing all the constitutional fights over lethal injection as an execution method.

Whether or not Mr. Doty’s request to be executed as soon as it can be arranged will be respected  has yet to be decided.  The court must confirm his mental health status in making this kind of request, for one thing. 

Most Death Row inmates fight to live — having a Death Row inmate fight to die does bring his mental health into question. 

As for what will happen to Wayne Doty’s request to be executed in Old Sparky, it’s too soon to tell.

Today, a Florida judge delayed the decision regarding Florida Death Row Inmate Wayne Doty’s request to January 2015.

 

With all the talk about the Supreme Court of the United States okaying the State of Oklahoma’s lethal injection method of execution (see Glossip v. Gross), there hasn’t been much discussion about two other capital punishment cases that were pending before the High Court.

 

As we posted about a few months back, in addition to Glossip, SCOTUS had two other big death penalty cases to decide: Brumfield and Hurst.  

1.  Brumfield v. Cain

Out of Louisiana, the issue here is if the procedure that state has set up to decide if someone is mentally disabled, and therefore protected by this Eighth Amendment bar from being executed, past constitutional muster.  Here’s our post with details on the case.

Result:  on June 18, 2015, the High Court reversed the lower court’s decision and remanded the case back for a trial on the merits regarding the inmate’s intellectual disability and whether under Atkins v. Virginia he can or cannot be executed.

Read the SCOTUS Opinion in Brumfield (with Dissents) here.

  
For lots of analysis, check out SCOTUSBlog on the Brumfield opinion (and dissents, it was 5-4).

2. Hurst v. Florida

Coming from Florida, the only issue being decided by SCOTUS is if Florida’s death penalty sentencing scheme violates either the Sixth Amendment or the  Eighth Amendment in light of Ring v. Arizona, 536 U. S. 584 (2002).  Here’s our post with details on this important Florida death penalty case.

Result: Pending.  Amici briefs were still being filed in June 2015; no oral argument has been scheduled yet.

Follow the SCOTUS Docket for Hurst v Florida here.

Follow the Hurst case via SCOTUSBlog here.

Recently, TIME Magazine had a cover story regarding the Death Penalty in this country.  Included in its coverage of capital punishment in the United States was an opinion piece by sports legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  
 
Mr. Abdul-Jabbar writes about his arguments for abolishing the Death Penalty.  You can read it here.
 
 
This is another example of the growing media coverage of the Death Penalty and the debate over whether or not there should be executions in the United States today.
 
If you read some of these articles, you may get the idea that the Supreme Court of the United States has the issue of outlawing executions before it.  
 
 
The widest reading of things before SCOTUS today would be a wide interpretation of the lethal injection method of execution as those issues have been presented in an Oklahoma case, Glossip v. Gross.  It’s debatable if that case is really arguing against lethal injections as a method of execution or it is is targeting the use of a particular chemical in an execution using the lethal injection method.
 
And remember, there are several alternative methods of execution with SCOTUS approval already in place if the lethal injection method of execution were to be ruled unconstitutional. 

 Right now, the Supreme Court of the United States is considering several cases dealing with capital punishment and how the death penalty is to be carried out in this country.

It’s getting to the end of the 2015 Term for the High Court, which means that we may expect some opinions to come down before the Justices leave for their summer vacations.  

The pending death penalty cases on the 2015 SCOTUS calendar include:

1.  Brumfield v. Cain

This is a case dealing with whether or not the means that the State of Louisiana has in place to determine whether or not the person is mentally disabled, and therefore protected by this Eighth Amendment bar, past constitutional muster.

2. Hurst v. Florida

Here, the sole question presented to the High Court for decision is whether or not Florida’s death sentencing scheme violates the Sixth Amendment or the  Eighth Amendment in light of this Court’s decision in Ring v. Arizona, 536 U. S. 584 (2002). 

3. Glossop v. Gross

The High Court is considering this case out of Oklahoma and while there are some that suggest this case may result in the entire lethal injection method of execution being held unconstitutional as cruel and unusual, there are others that see the case as being narrowly based, and dealing only with the issue of devation from Baze v. Rees, 553 U.S. 35 (2008) insofar as substituting the drug 

midazolam as its three-drug lethal injection cocktail, a drug not approved by the FDA for use as general anesthesia and never used as the sole anesthetic for painful surgical procedures.

4.  Supreme Court Allowed Two Death Penalty Executions Already This Year

Of note, Texas got the green light to execute Robert Ladd this year and Georgia also went ahead with the execution of Warren Hill in 2015 after SCOTUS declined to grant writ in that case.

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NOTE:  There is in-depth discussion of the lethal injection method of execution which focuses in part upon the botched execution of Clayton Lockett by the State of Oklahoma that was published today in the Atlantic.

(Hat tip to Sydney Simon for sending Terry Lenamon advance notice of the cover story here.)

Entitled, "Cruel and Unusual:The botched execution of Clayton Lockett—and how capital punishment became so surreal," and written by Jeffrey E. Stern, it’s a good read for those following what’s happening up in Washington right now.  

 

There are several different methods of execution used by the states (as well as the federal government and the U.S. Military) that offer ways to carry out a sentence of death other than the lethal injection method.  

Image:  Florida’s Electric Chair

 

Guillotines, for example, are well known execution methods (as sadly are beheadings by other means), but the United States does not recognize this as an acceptable means of carrying out capital punishment.

Alternative Execution Methods

These are already in the law, and have been superseded by lethal injection as the preferred method of carrying out capital punishment.  They have passed constitutional challenge already, these methods just haven’t been used in decades.  But they’re available, statutorily.  

In these jurisdictions, lethal injection is considered the primary means of carrying out a death sentence, but other execution methods remain as acceptable alternatives in the state law.  
 
As lethal injections come under more and more scrutiny, these statutes are being reconsidered as ways to impose the death penalty and it’s probably going to be in the near future that these older methods may be used again.  
 
It may not take much more than an executive order from the governor (say, in Tennessee where the electric chair was restored by the governor in May 2014) for the state to opt for these alternative methods.  
 
4 Methods of Execution In U.S. Death Penalty Cases Other Than Lethal Injection
 
 
1.  Firing Squad
 
This month, the State of Utah made news by returning to the firing squad as an alternative, acceptable execution method to lethal injection.  However, this may not be a real surprise to those living in Utah; after all, the firing squad has been used as recently as 2010, when Utah law allowed a Death Row inmate to choose the firing squad over lethal injection as the method of execution.
 
 
Other states with firing squad as an approved method of execution:  Idaho and Oklahoma.
 
2.  Electrocution
 
States with electrocution (electric chair) as an execution method in their laws, while lethal injection became the preferred method of execution, are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
 
3.Gas Chamber
 
Gas chambers as a means of capital punishment exists in 5 states: Arizona, California, Maryland, Missouri, and Wyoming.  Oklahoma is currently legislating nitrogen in gas chambers as a means of execution, since the lethal injection method used in that state is being reviewed right now by the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
4. Hanging
 
For New Hampshire and Washington, death sentences can be carried out by hanging as well as lethal injection.  
 
 

 

Georgia is halting its lethal injection executions for now because of concerns voiced by state officials about the quality of the chemicals available to be used by executioners.

Kelly Gissendaner’s Execution Has Been Stayed.

According to the New York Times, lawyers for Kelly Gissendaner have explained that representatives for the State of Georgia stated that the pentobarbital that would have been used in the execution was found to be "cloudy" by a pharmacist expert.  

Note that pentobarbital is NOT a drug being considered by the Supreme Court of the United States in the pending lethal injection cocktail case (read our prior post for details).

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Here is the full text of the news release issued by the GeorgiGa Department of Corrections:

Homer Bryson, Commissioner

Director of Public Affairs Joan Heath

Contact: Gwendolyn Hogan (478) 992-5247 Hogang00@dcor.state.ga.us

STATE OF GEORGIA

For Immediate Release

Court Ordered Executions Postponed – Kelly Renee Gissendaner and Brian Keith Terrell FORSYTH, Ga. –

The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) announced today that, out of an abundance of caution, the scheduled executions of Kelly Renee Gissendaner and Brian Keith Terrell, have been postponed while an analysis is conducted of the drugs planned for use in last night’s scheduled execution of inmate Gissendaner.

The sentencing courts will issue new execution orders when the Department is prepared to proceed.

The GDC has one of the largest prison systems in the U.S. and is responsible for supervising nearly 55,000 state prisoners and over 160,000 probationers. It is the largest law enforcement agency in the state with approximately 12,000 employees.