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Thread: Russell Earl Bucklew - Missouri Execution - October 1, 2019

  1. #131
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Being an executioner is a volunteer position you aren't forced to do it once or 62 times. If it was such a traumatic and conflicting experience for one I have no clue as to why one would perform 62 of them.

  2. #132
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Supreme Court death penalty case puts Kavanaugh on the spot

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday considers a Missouri murderer’s bid to avoid execution by lethal injection on the grounds that the procedure might rupture blood-filled tumors on his body due to a rare ailment, with new Justice Brett Kavanaugh likely to be the deciding vote.

    Lawyers for Russell Bucklew, 50, have argued that because of a congenital condition called cavernous hemangioma the lethal injection could cause undue agony in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

    In Missouri, execution is authorized using either lethal injection or lethal gas. The state in practice uses only lethal injection. Bucklew, whose appeal is neither contesting his guilt nor seeking to avoid execution, has suggested being put to death by gas.

    The high court on March 20 issued a stay of execution moments before Bucklew was scheduled to be put to death so he could pursue his appeal. The vote was 5-4, with four of the court’s five conservative justices voting to deny the request.

    The conservative justice who voted with the court’s four liberals to grant the stay, Anthony Kennedy, has since retired. He was replaced by Kavanaugh, a conservative appeals court judge who was appointed by President Donald Trump and joined the court last month after a fierce Senate confirmation battle.

    Trump’s other Supreme Court appointee, conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, voted against granting the stay. The justices issued a similar stay of execution for Bucklew in 2014.

    Bucklew was convicted of the 1996 murder in southeastern Missouri of Michael Sanders, who was living with Bucklew’s former girlfriend Stephanie Ray at the time. Bucklew fatally shot Sanders at his trailer home, kidnapped and raped Ray, shot at Sanders’ 6-year-old son and wounded a police officer before being apprehended, according to court papers.

    Bucklew’s condition has caused large, blood-filled tumors to grow on his face, head, neck and throat, according to court papers.

    A ruling is due by the end of June.

    Bucklew’s case represents the latest fight at the Supreme Court involving the death penalty, though he is not challenging the constitutionality of capital punishment. While some liberal justices have questioned the death penalty, the high court has steered clear of cases that directly challenge its legality.

    In March, the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Bucklew, saying he had failed to show lethal gas would not cause him similarly intense pain as lethal injection. Bucklew then appealed to the Supreme Court.

    In 2015, the Supreme Court upheld the use of a drug employed by Oklahoma in its lethal injections. The court made clear that when challenging a method of execution, inmates must show that there is an alternative method that would be less painful.

    A convicted double murderer named Edmund Zagorski was executed by electric chair in Tennessee last Thursday after arguing that the state’s lethal injection procedure would be too painful.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKCN1NB1CQ
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  3. #133
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh signals possible break with fellow conservatives in death penalty case

    Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday signaled a possible break with his fellow conservative Supreme Court justices during a dramatic day of oral argument in a high-stakes death penalty case.

    The case concerns Russell Bucklew, who was convicted in Missouri on charges of murder, kidnapping and rape, and sentenced to be executed this year. Bucklew has argued that his execution, if carried out by lethal injection, would be cruel and unusual because he has a rare medical condition that would make the procedure excruciatingly painful.

    In his questions to Missouri's attorney, Kavanaugh suggested he was sympathetic to that argument.

    "Are you saying even if the method creates gruesome and brutal pain you can still do it because there's no alternative?" Kavanaugh asked John Sauer, the state's solicitor general.

    Sauer responded that under precedent set by the high court it would be necessary for the person set to be executed to offer an alternative method that reduced the pain.

    "So you're saying that even if the method imposes gruesome, brutal pain, you can still go forward?" Kavanaugh asked. "Is there any limit on that?"

    Kavanaugh appeared to be testing the logic of a separate precedent established by the court in 2015. In Glossip v. Gross, No. 14-7955, the court ruled that death row inmates challenging the method of their execution must provide an alternative.

    Sauer said that it would be unconstitutional, for instance, to "deliberately inflict pain for the sake of pain." But he pointed to the court's previous rulings that found completely eliminating the potential for suffering to be impossible.

    The court also has found execution to be impermissible in cases where the person to be executed is incompetent or severely mentally handicapped.

    Kavanaugh's questions raise the specter that he could join the court's four liberals in sending Bucklew's case back to a lower court in order to resolve questions about how to handle his medical needs. The court's 5-4 majority that agreed to stay Bucklew's execution earlier this year included retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, who Kavanaugh succeeded last month.

    While Kavanaugh's views on the death penalty are not clear, court watchers expected him to side with the other Republican-appointed justices more frequently than Kennedy, who often served as a swing vote on social issues.

    Bucklew's case is the second this term to deal with the death penalty. The first case, concerning whether a state can execute a person who has no memory of the crime they are set to be executed for, was argued last month before Kavanaugh was confirmed.

    After Kavanaugh's exchange with Sauer on Tuesday, Justice Stephen Breyer, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, followed up with a question about whether the Constitution would permit burning at the stake.

    "It's exactly the same to him as if you burned him at the stake. And I guess if you're going to rule out the one, you'd rule out the other," Breyer said. "Because of his rare medical condition, [lethal injection would] feel exactly the same as if he'd been drowned to death."

    Then Breyer made a direct connection to Kavanaugh's line of questioning.

    "That's why I think Justice Kavanaugh brought that up," Breyer said.

    A ruling in the case is expected to come by the end of June.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/06/kava...alty-case.html

  4. #134
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    On one hand, argument transcripts show Sotomayor vigorously questioned both sides - and we know how she'll vote. Kavanaugh may have simply been doing what a SCOTUS justice does.

    On another note, if he turns into another weak justice (after such a bruising confirmation fight) I swear to God. There's a reason I wanted someone like Kethledge or Thapar.

    Last note, Alito broke with Roberts, Scalia, and Thomas in a death penalty case in 2006. Aberrations do happen.
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  5. #135
    Senior Member CnCP Addict one_two_bomb's Avatar
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    If kavanaugh sides with bucklew I'm joining the #metoo movement

  6. #136
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mastro Titta's Avatar
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    Guys, don't start to panic. Kavanaugh simply asked one question in order to figure out a possible connection between this case and Glossip, and the state attorney responded impeccably. No big deal, just SCOTUS routine.

    I don't think Kavanaugh will be a weak Justice (remember his behavior in the Zagorski saga, Kennedy and Soutier would have given poor Edmund a pass for sure), but even if in this case Kavanaugh decides to vote for Bucklew, it will be a decision limited to certain rare cases like his.

    Anyway lethal injection will be gone in 4/5 years, and nitrigen hypoxia will be a succesful substitute.

  7. #137
    Senior Member Frequent Poster Shep3's Avatar
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    Yeah this is just standard questioning done purely to ensure both sides feel heard. Kennedy himself was notorious for this giving many liberals hope in the Trump v HI and masterpiece cake shop cases this past term only to come out and disappoint them.

  8. #138
    Senior Member Member Big Jon's Avatar
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    Supreme Court rules against death row inmate with rare disease

    Washington (CNN)The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision against a death row inmate in Missouri who claimed that his execution by lethal injection would cause him "severe harm and suffering" because he suffers from a rare disease.

    Bucklew's challenge marked the first major death penalty case that was argued since Justice Brett Kavanaugh replaced Justice Anthony Kennedy. Last spring, Kennedy voted with the court's four liberals to put the execution on hold.

    While the Supreme Court has broadly upheld death by lethal injection, lawyers for Bucklew argued that in his particular case the disease, called cavernous hemangioma, is progressive and causes an "unstable blood-filled tumor to grow in his head, neck and throat," and they concluded that if he were to undergo lethal injection he could suffer from prolonged suffocation.
    Bucklew argued the state should consider death by lethal gas as an alternative.

    Lawyers for the state dispute the findings of the medical expert and emphasize that Bucklew engaged in lengthy delays in fighting his death sentence. They argue that Missouri's one drug protocol is "the most humane and effective method of execution" available and that the state has no experience with lethal gas.

    This story is breaking and will be updated.

    https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/01/polit...lew/index.html

    Looks like he will be receiving a new execution date in the not too distant future.

  9. #139
    Senior Member Frequent Poster Fact's Avatar
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    "The Constitution allows Capital Punishment."

    Even though it wasn't in the question presented, it's always good to read that. Also, the fact that Kavanaugh joined this decision makes me feel somewhat more comfortable.

  10. #140
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Wish I could see the look on Bucklew's face. Nothing will save him now. And someone get Kegstand Kav a beer for coming in clutch.
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

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