All articles tagged with #eighth amendment
Brian Dorsey, facing execution for a 2006 double murder, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court citing rehabilitation and the Eighth Amendment. His legal team argues that executing a rehabilitated individual would violate the Eighth Amendment. Despite pleas for clemency from Department of Corrections staff and his former coach, Dorsey is scheduled to be executed on April 9.
The U.S. Supreme Court and a federal appeals court have both declined to intervene in Alabama's plans to execute Kenneth Smith using nitrogen gas, making it the nation's first nitrogen gas execution. Smith's lawyers argued that the method would violate his Eighth Amendment rights, but the courts did not provide an explanation for their decisions. Alabama's previous attempt to execute Smith by lethal injection was botched, and his lawyers fear that the new nitrogen gas protocol may cause him severe suffering. The execution is scheduled to take place on Thursday evening at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility.
Alabama has been given the go-ahead to proceed with the first-ever execution in the United States using nitrogen gas after a federal appeals court ruled that the method does not violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Kenneth Eugene Smith is set to be executed via nitrogen hypoxia, with concerns raised about the untested method's potential impact on human dignity. The decision comes after a series of legal challenges and concerns about the protocol for the execution.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could significantly impact homelessness policy in the US, specifically regarding tent encampments. The case challenges a city's laws and customs that allegedly punished homeless individuals for being involuntarily homeless. The Court's decision, expected later this year, will determine whether it's a violation of the Eighth Amendment to fine or arrest people experiencing homelessness. The outcome could shape how cities respond to tent encampments and have implications for sending homeless people involuntarily to substance use or psychiatric treatment programs.
Alabama has resumed the use of the death penalty with the execution of James Barber, following three botched killings last year. Barber was pronounced dead after receiving a lethal injection, despite a dissenting opinion from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson who argued that the state should not be allowed to experiment with human life. Last year, Alabama faced issues with executions by lethal injection, leading to an internal review. Barber sought to avoid his execution by opting for nitrogen hypoxia, a method the state is not yet ready to use. Barber, who murdered a woman with a hammer in 2001, expressed forgiveness towards the Epps family and the governor of Alabama before his execution.
Alabama plans to execute death row inmate James Barber despite his claim that lethal injection could result in cruel and unusual punishment. Barber argued for an alternative execution method, nitrogen hypoxia, but the state has yet to finalize its protocols. The federal appeals court upheld the decision not to halt his execution, citing the Department of Corrections' newly-implemented changes to address issues with the lethal injection protocol. Barber's attorneys argued that his elevated body mass index makes it difficult to access his veins, increasing the risk of a failed lethal injection.
The US Supreme Court has rejected Alabama's request to execute a death row inmate by lethal injection, upholding a lower court ruling that his preference for lethal gas is a viable alternative method. Kenneth Smith, sentenced to death for murdering Elizabeth Sennett in 1988, objected to being executed by lethal injection because of the pain it would cause. The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for Smith in November, saying that because the state has approved use of lethal gas, Smith could seek an alternative method of execution.