Firing Squad Briefs Sought by Supreme Court in Death Row Appeal

Hello.

Ernest Johnson, who is on death row in Missouri, says lethal injection will cause excruciating pain and violent seizures during his execution, which violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. He wants to be put to death in the gas chamber or shot by a firing squad.

The District Court dismissed Johnson’s complaint, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. On appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the defendant Johnson says that past decisions by the Supreme Court requires inmates to select the method of death. Johnson wants to have the option of gas or shooting.

The U.S. Supreme Court expressed interest and asked the parties, the defendant and the State of Missouri, to file briefs on the availability of the firing squad as an option for a death-row inmate. The question on appeal is whether the inmate should be allowed to propose the firing squad as the alternative method of execution?

Johnson says that the firing squad could be a more “humane” alternative to lethal injection because there have been many lethal injections that went horribly wrong. So that’s why Johnson prefers a firing squad.

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https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/firing-squad-briefs-sought-by-supreme-court-in-death-row-appeal