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OK. This may be a longish thread, trying to unpack today's developments in the #ChristopherPrice case. @DPInfoCtr #Alabama #deathpenalty. Here goes: ...
1) Yesterday the 11th Circuit upheld the same federal district court's decision denying Price's application for a stay of execution. deathpenaltyinfo.org/files/pdf/Pric… @DPInfoCtr #ChristopherPrice #Alabama #deathpenalty.
2) That decision agreed with Price that, under the Eighth Amendment, nitrogen hypoxia is available as an alternative method of execution, even if Price missed the statutory deadline for opting-in to select it as his preferred method of execution. #ChristopherPrice #deathpenalty.
3) The court ruled that "If a State adopts a particular method of execution—as the State of Alabama did in March 2018—it thereby concedes that the method of execution is available to its inmates." @DPInfoCtr #ChristopherPrice #Alabama #deathpenalty
4) It said: “A State may not simultaneously offer a particular method of execution and deny it as ‘unavailable.’ ...” @DPInfoCtr #ChristopherPrice #Alabama #deathpenalty
5) “Rather, because [#Alabama] voluntarily included nitrogen hypoxia in its statute, we reject [its] argument that nitrogen hypoxia is not ‘available’ to Price simply because the State has not yet developed a protocol to administer this method of execution.” #ChristopherPrice
Parenthetically, this is exactly what I tweeted on April 2 on how #SCOTUS's decision in #RussellBucklew's case could paradoxically help #ChristopherPrice.
6) However, even though the Circuit ruled that nitrogen hypoxia was available, it then found that Price had failed to meet his additional burden of establishing that nitrogen hypoxia would “significantly reduce a substantial risk of severe pain.” #Alabama #deathpenalty
7) This seemed questionable because Price had submitted an uncontroverted affidavit stating essentially that very point and the District Court had found that he had met his burden of proof on that issue. #ChristopherPrice #Alabama #deathpenalty
8) Today, Price filed a petition for writ of certiorari asking #SCOTUS to review the appeals court's decision. (Here's a link.) supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/1… #ChristopherPrice #Alabama #deathpenalty
9) The petition asked, in part, “Whether a court of appeals may affirm a district court’s judgment by reversing the district court’s finding of fact on an issue that the appellee did not contest in the district court and waived on appeal.” #ChristopherPrice #Alabama #deathpenalty
10) He also filed an application asking #SCOTUS to stay his execution. (Here's a link to the stay motion.) supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/1… @DPInfoCtr #ChristopherPrice #Alabama #deathpenalty
11) The #Alabama Attorney General's office filed this reply. supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/1… @DPInfoCtr #ChristopherPrice #Alabama #deathpenalty
12) As of 5:45 Eastern, that stay motion was still pending. @DPInfoCtr #ChristopherPrice #Alabama #deathpenalty
13) In the meantime, Price returned to the District Court with a series of affidavits saying that execution with nitrogen hypoxia would be significantly less painful than a midazolam lethal injection execution. @DPInfoCtr #ChristopherPrice #Alabama #deathpenalty
12) The #Alabama AG argued that the District Court had no jurisdiction to consider these affidavits because the case was now in the Supreme Court. @DPInfoCtr #ChristopherPrice #SCOTUS #deathpenalty
13) The District Court disagreed, found that based on the uncontested affidavits that Price was likely to prevail on his Eighth Amendment claim and granted a stay for 60 days to resolve the issue. @DPInfoCtr #ChristopherPrice #Alabama #deathpenalty
14) It also gave #Alabama until 5/10/2019 to submit evidence to rebut #ChristopherPrice’s claims that its drug-execution protocol is likely to cause him severe pain and that execution by nitrogen hypoxia will significantly reduce the substantial risk of severe pain. #deathpenalty
Now it's time to figure out what happens next.
