The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Missouri death row inmate’s petition to be executed by firing squad rather than lethal injection, after he argued that lethal injection would cause him significant pain due to his medical condition.
The inmate, Ernest Lee Johnson, argued that lethal injection might trigger an epileptic seizure that would cause him severe pain. He had sought an alternative method of execution instead of receiving a deadly dose of pentobarbital, which can cause seizures, according to studies.
In a dissenting opinion, Sotomayor argued that the ruling was akin to “sacrificing” the Eighth Amendment for judicial efficiency.
“The Eighth Circuit’s decision punishes Johnson for failing to anticipate significant changes in the law,” the Obama-appointed justice wrote. “Worse, it ensures that Johnson’s claim will never be heard on the merits. Missouri is now free to execute Johnson in a manner that, at this stage of the litigation, we must assume will be akin to torture given his unique medical condition.”
Sotomayor also noted that “tumor cells, scar tissue, and [a] brain defect” have “caused Johnson to suffer from epilepsy, which produces violent, uncontrollable, and painful seizures.” She concluded, "Because this Court chooses to stand idly by, I respectfully dissent.”
Executions by firing squad, while rare in modern times, are used as a secondary option in Utah, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and now South Carolina. They haven’t been used in Missouri in more than 150 years.
On May 24, Breyer noted that firing squads are “today a highly unusual method of execution,” but he argued that Johnson was asking that the federal courts “decide between an execution that’s ‘cruel’ and one that’s ‘unusual.’”
Johnson’s case, he argued, “provides one more example of the special difficulties that the death penalty, as currently administered, creates for the just application of the law.”
Missouri now has the option to set a new date for Johnson’s execution.
