The Estate of Joe Nathan James, Jr. v. Ivey et al
Filing
43
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER: it is ORDERED as follows: 1. The Defendants' motion to dismiss (doc. 33 ) is GRANTED as follows: a. Judgment is entered against the Plaintiff and in favor of the Defendants on the federal claims; b. The Court declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1367, and the state law claims are DISMISSED without prejudice; 2. This case is DISMISSED. A separate Final Judgment will be entered. Signed by Chief Judge Emily C. Marks on 3/26/2024. (CWL)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
NORTHERN DIVISION
THE ESTATE OF JOE NATHAN JAMES, JR.,)
by and through its personal representative,
)
HAKIM JAMES,
)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
v.
) CIVIL ACT. NO. 2:23-cv-293-ECM
)
[WO]
GOVERNOR KAY IVEY, et al.,
)
)
Defendants.
)
MEMORANDUM OPINION and ORDER
I. INTRODUCTION
On July 28, 2022, the State of Alabama executed Joe Nathan James, Jr.
(“Mr. James”) by lethal injection, after a jury had convicted and sentenced Mr. James to
death.
Mr. James’ estate (“Estate” or “Plaintiff”), by and through its personal
representative, Hakim James, brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against
Governor Kay Ivey (“Ivey”); the Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections
(“ADOC”), John Q. Hamm (“Hamm”); Warden Terry Raybon (“Raybon”), Attorney
General Steve Marshall (“Marshall”); and John Does 1–6 (collectively, the “Defendants”),
asserting that the Defendants’ acts and omissions in carrying out Mr. James’ execution
violated his rights under the United States Constitution, the Alabama Constitution, and
Alabama state law. The Estate seeks monetary damages, attorney’s fees, and costs.
Now pending before the Court is the Defendants’ motion to dismiss. (Doc. 33). The
motion is fully briefed and ripe for review. For the reasons explained further below, the
Court finds that the Defendants’ motion is due to be granted to the extent that the federal
claims are due to be dismissed with prejudice, and the Court will decline to exercise
supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims and dismiss those claims without
prejudice.
II. JURISDICTION AND VENUE
The Court has original subject matter jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28
U.S.C. § 1331. The Court has supplemental jurisdiction over the Estate’s state law claims
pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a). Personal jurisdiction and venue are uncontested, and the
Court concludes that venue properly lies in the Middle District of Alabama. See 28 U.S.C.
§ 1391.
III. LEGAL STANDARD
A Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss tests the sufficiency of the complaint against the
legal standard set forth in Rule 8: “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that
the pleader is entitled to relief.” FED. R. CIV. P. 8(a)(2). “To survive a motion to dismiss,
a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to
relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting
Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). At this stage of the proceedings,
“the court must accept as true all factual allegations in the complaint and draw all
reasonable inferences in the plaintiff’s favor.” Bailey v. Wheeler, 843 F.3d 473, 478 n.3
(11th Cir. 2016).
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“Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief [is] . . . a
context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience
and common sense.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679 (alteration in original) (citation omitted). The
plausibility standard requires “more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted
unlawfully.” Id. at 678. Conclusory allegations that are merely “conceivable” and fail to
rise “above the speculative level” are insufficient to meet the plausibility standard.
Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555–56. This pleading standard “does not require ‘detailed factual
allegations,’ but it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmedme accusation.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. Indeed, “[a] pleading that offers ‘labels and
conclusions’ or ‘a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.’”
Id.
IV. FACTS 1
Mr. James was executed by lethal injection at Holman Correctional Facility
(“Holman”) on July 28, 2022. As set out further below, the Estate alleges that Mr. James’
execution lasted approximately three-and-a-half hours, during which time Mr. James
allegedly was forcibly sedated and rendered unconscious before he was put to death,
punctured with needles numerous times over multiple parts of his body, and received two
This recitation of the facts is based on the Estate’s complaint. (Doc. 1). The Court recites only the facts
pertinent to resolving the Defendants’ motion to dismiss. For purposes of ruling on the motion, the facts
alleged in the complaint and reasonable inferences drawn therefrom are set forth in the light most favorable
to the Estate. Additionally, the Court accepts as true the factual allegations in the complaint—including
the allegations made “on information and belief,” which the Court assumes without deciding may be
accepted as true.
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incisions in his left arm. At all relevant times, Ivey was the Governor of Alabama, Marshall
was the Alabama Attorney General, Hamm was the ADOC Commissioner, and Raybon
was the Warden of Holman. As alleged in the complaint, Defendants John Does 1–3 are
members of the “IV Team” who participated in Mr. James’ execution, and Defendants John
Does 4–6 are members of the “Execution Team” who participated in Mr. James’ execution.
Alabama’s lethal injection protocol (“Protocol”) requires that the IV Team place
two IV lines in the condemned individual’s veins. The Protocol further authorizes two
methods for the IV Team to establish IV access: “the standard procedure,” or, “if the veins
are such that intravenous access cannot be provided [redacted] . . . a central line procedure.”
(Doc. 1 at 10, para. 46) (alterations in original). Under the Protocol, the IV Team sets the
IV lines, while the Warden of Holman administers the lethal injection drugs. Witnesses in
the witness room are unable to observe the IV Team’s setting of the IV lines, as the curtains
to the execution chamber are kept closed during this time. Once the IV team has placed
the two IV lines, the curtains to the witness room are opened, and the Warden is then
required to “read the [death] warrant to the condemned offender” before administering the
lethal injection drugs. (Id. at 11, paras. 54–55, 57). The Protocol provides that “[t]he
condemned offender will be allowed to make any last remarks” and will be given up to two
minutes to speak. (Id. at 11, para. 56) (alteration in original).
Mr. James was scheduled to be executed on July 28, 2022, at 6:00 p.m. The
Execution Team strapped Mr. James to the execution gurney shortly after 6:00 p.m., and
the IV team attempted to establish IV access to Mr. James’ veins. No witnesses observed
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the attempts to establish IV access. Autopsy reports show that “the IV Team attempted to
establish IV access by puncturing Mr. James with a needle several times in multiple areas
of his body, including the elbows, wrists, hands, and right foot.” (Id. at 12, para. 61). 2
Mr. James “sustained multiple abrasions” and two incisions in his left arm as the IV Team
attempted to establish IV access. (Doc. 1 at 12, para. 62; at 15, para. 83). The Estate alleges
that the Protocol does not authorize incisions to expose an inmate’s vein in order to gain
IV access. The Estate also alleges that during the attempts to gain IV access, the IV Team
forcibly administered midazolam as a sedative to Mr. James. According to the complaint,
the Protocol does not allow the IV Team to administer any type of sedative to the
condemned individual before the lethal injection drugs are administered. Additionally, the
Estate alleges that ADOC has represented in other litigation before this Court that the use
of intramuscular sedation “would be off protocol.” (Id. at 11, para. 53); (see also doc. 32
at 10 in Smith v. Hamm et al., 2:22-cv-497-RAH (M.D. Ala. Nov. 7, 2022)).
The Estate alleges that the IV team was unable to establish the two required IV lines
until approximately 9:02 p.m. Clinical practice guidelines suggest that it “should not take
much longer than a few minutes to accomplish IV access” and that “difficult IV access may
The Defendants invite the Court to consider an affidavit accompanying the autopsy report conducted by
Dr. Boris Datnow, which was filed in separate litigation before this Court and which, according to the
Defendants, “discredit[s]” many of the complaint’s allegations. (Doc. 33 at 2–3, n.3). Although the Estate
does not mention the affidavit in its response to the motion to dismiss, the Court declines to consider the
affidavit because the Court is not persuaded that the affidavit is “central to [the Estate’s] claims.” See Baker
v. City of Madison, 67 F.4th 1268, 1276 (11th Cir. 2023). Even if it were, the Court could not simply
disregard the Estate’s factual allegations in the face of conflicting information because at this stage, the
Court must accept the complaint’s factual allegations as true. See Bailey, 843 F.3d at 478 n.3. In any event,
even if the Court did consider the affidavit, it would not change the Court’s reasoning or conclusions.
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take as long as 30 minutes.” (Doc. 1 at 7–8, paras. 33–35). Additionally, the Estate alleges
that despite the IV Team “continuously puncturing Mr. James with needles and failing to
establish IV access for more than three hours,” Marshall, Ivey, and Hamm failed to call off
Mr. James’ execution and allowed the execution to continue “well past the point when it
became unnecessarily cruel and painful.” (Id. at 12, para. 66). The Estate also alleges that
the Defendants failed to proceed with implementing a central line procedure in accordance
with the Protocol once it became clear that IV access could not be obtained through “the
standard procedure.”
When the curtains to the execution chamber opened, Mr. James’ eyes remained
closed, and his body remained immobile on the gurney.
According to the Estate,
“Mr. James was unconscious, likely as a result of forcible sedation,” when Raybon read
the death warrant. (Id. at 13, para. 68). Mr. James had planned, as his final words, to
apologize to his family, to apologize to the victim’s family, and to say a Muslim prayer.
However, when Raybon asked Mr. James if he would like to say any last words, Mr. James
did not respond. The Estate alleges that Raybon and the Execution Team knew that
Mr. James was unconscious and unable to say his last words.
Raybon began administering the lethal injection drugs to Mr. James at 9:04 p.m.,
and the State of Alabama pronounced Mr. James deceased at 9:27 p.m. ADOC later
confirmed that the delayed execution was caused by difficulty in establishing IV access.
ADOC refused to confirm that Mr. James was conscious when Raybon began
administering the lethal injection drugs. The Estate further alleges that Alabama “shrouds
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its execution procedures in secrecy” and that much of the information related to Mr. James’
execution remains in ADOC’s exclusive possession. (Id. at 2, para. 2).
V. DISCUSSION
The Estate’s complaint contains four counts. (See generally doc. 1). In Count One,
the Estate asserts that Mr. James’ prolonged execution violated his rights under the United
States and Alabama Constitutions. Count Two asserts that Mr. James’ forced sedation
violated his rights under the United States and Alabama Constitutions. In Count Three, the
Estate claims that deviations from Alabama’s execution protocol violated Mr. James’ rights
under the United States and Alabama Constitutions. Finally, Count Four asserts a wrongful
death claim under Alabama law. All claims are brought against the Defendants in their
individual capacities.
The Defendants move to dismiss the complaint in its entirety. They argue that the
federal claims did not survive Mr. James’ death, and that in any event, those claims are
barred by qualified immunity. They also argue that monetary relief is not an available
remedy for violations of the Alabama Constitution, that they are entitled to various state
law immunities, and that the complaint fails to state a plausible wrongful death claim. The
Court will begin by addressing the federal claims.
A. Federal Claims
In Count One, the Estate asserts that the three-and-a-half-hour duration and
attendant nature of Mr. James’ execution, in particular the multiple attempts to establish
IV access by puncturing him with needles all over his body and making two incisions in
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his arm, violated Mr. James’ Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual
punishment. In Count Two, the Estate claims that the forcible sedation of Mr. James prior
to the administration of the lethal injection drugs also violated his Eighth Amendment
rights. Count Three asserts that the Defendants’ “significant” deviations from Alabama’s
lethal injection protocol during Mr. James’ execution violated his Eighth Amendment
rights and his equal protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Citing ALA. CODE §§ 6-5-410 and 6-5-462, the Defendants argue that the federal
claims did not survive Mr. James’ death. They also argue that even if the claims did survive
Mr. James’ death, the claims are nonetheless due to be dismissed because the Defendants
are entitled to qualified immunity. The Court will assume without deciding that the federal
claims survived Mr. James’ death. Because Counts One and Two are interrelated, the Court
addresses them together before turning to Count Three.
“[T]he Eighth Amendment does not guarantee a prisoner a painless death . . . .”
Bucklew v. Precythe, 587 U.S. 119, 132 (2019). Instead, the relevant Eighth Amendment
inquiry is whether the State’s chosen method of execution “‘superadds’ pain well beyond
what’s needed to effectuate a death sentence.” Id. at 136–37. And “[t]o determine whether
the State is cruelly superadding pain,” the Supreme Court requires “asking whether the
State had some other feasible and readily available method to carry out its lawful sentence
that would have significantly reduced a substantial risk of pain.” Id. at 137; see also Boyd
v. Warden, Holman Corr. Facility, 856 F.3d 853, 858 (11th Cir. 2017) (explaining that a
plaintiff asserting an Eighth Amendment method of execution challenge “must plausibly
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plead, and ultimately prove, that there is an alternative method of execution that is feasible,
readily implemented, and in fact significantly reduces the substantial risk of pain posed by
the state’s planned method of execution”). The plaintiff must establish that the challenged
method poses a “‘substantial risk of serious harm,’ an ‘objectively intolerable risk of harm’
that prevents prison officials from pleading that they were ‘subjectively blameless for
purposes of the Eighth Amendment.’” Glossip v. Gross, 576 U.S. 863, 877 (2015) (citation
omitted). Moreover, “[t]he Constitution affords a ‘measure of deference to a State’s choice
of execution procedures’ and does not authorize courts to serve as ‘boards of inquiry
charged with determining “best practices” for executions.’” Bucklew, 587 U.S. at 134
(citation omitted).
Additionally, government officials sued in their individual capacities are protected
by qualified immunity unless their conduct violates “clearly established statutory or
constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Harlow v.
Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818 (1982). The Eleventh Circuit has established a two-part
analysis to determine whether a defendant is entitled to qualified immunity. First, the
defendant must show that he was “engaged in a ‘discretionary function’ when he performed
the acts of which the plaintiff complains.” Holloman ex rel. Holloman v. Harland, 370 F.3d
1252, 1264 (11th Cir. 2004) (quoting Harlow, 457 U.S. at 818). The Eleventh Circuit also
describes this step as requiring a showing that the defendant was “acting within his
discretionary authority.” See Lee v. Ferraro, 284 F.3d 1188, 1194 (11th Cir. 2002) (citation
omitted), overruled in part on other grounds by Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223 (2009).
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Second, if the court concludes the defendant was engaged in a discretionary function, the
burden shifts to the plaintiff to show that the defendant is not entitled to qualified immunity.
Holloman, 370 F.3d at 1264. To do so, the plaintiff must show “(1) the defendant violated
a constitutional right, and (2) this right was clearly established at the time of the alleged
violation.” Id. The Court may analyze these two prongs “in whatever order is deemed most
appropriate for the case.” Grider v. City of Auburn, 618 F.3d 1240, 1254 (11th Cir. 2010)
(citing Pearson, 555 U.S. at 241–42).
The Estate does not dispute that the Defendants were acting within the scope of their
discretionary authority. (Doc. 41 at 19 n.9). Consequently, the Court will turn to whether
the Estate can show that the Defendants violated Mr. James’ clearly established
constitutional rights.
The Estate may show that the right at issue was clearly established for qualified
immunity purposes in three ways: it can point to (1) case law with indistinguishable facts,
(2) “a broad statement of principle within the Constitution, statute, or case law”; or
(3) “conduct so egregious that a constitutional right was clearly violated,” even in the
absence of case law. See Baxter v. Roberts, 54 F.4th 1241, 1267 (11th Cir. 2022) (quoting
Lewis v. City of W. Palm Beach, 561 F.3d 1288, 1291–92 (11th Cir. 2009)). Whatever the
Estate’s method, “existing precedent must have placed the . . . constitutional question
beyond debate.” See Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S. 731, 741 (2011). Put another way, the
Estate must show that “[t]he contours of the right [are] sufficiently clear that a reasonable
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official would understand that what he is doing violates that right.” Anderson v. Creighton,
483 U.S. 635, 640 (1987); Corbitt v. Vickers, 929 F.3d 1304, 1311 (11th Cir. 2019).
The Estate does not identify any case law with indistinguishable facts clearly
establishing Mr. James’ constitutional rights. Indeed, the Estate cites no decision from the
Supreme Court or the Eleventh Circuit holding that officials’ acts or omissions in carrying
out a particular execution violated the Eighth Amendment, and the Court’s independent
research found none. Thus, to overcome the Defendants’ assertion of qualified immunity,
the Estate must show that the law was clearly established through either a broad statement
of principle or conduct so egregious that the violation of Mr. James’ rights was obvious.
See Baxter, 54 F.4th at 1267. “[I]t is very difficult to demonstrate” a violation of clearly
established law in either of these ways. Corbitt, 929 F.3d at 1315.
1. Counts One and Two
The Court begins with the Estate’s claims in Counts One and Two that the
circumstances of Mr. James’ execution as alleged in the complaint—the duration, multiple
attempts to establish IV access through needle punctures and incisions, and forcible
sedation—violated his clearly established Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel
and unusual punishment. Construing the factual allegations and all reasonable inferences
in the Estate’s favor, Count One challenges not just the prolonged nature of the execution
but also what Mr. James allegedly experienced during that time, including being punctured
with needles multiple times and enduring two incisions in his left arm in attempts to expose
a vein to gain IV access. The Court will also assume for argument’s sake that the Estate
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sufficiently alleges that Mr. James was forcibly sedated before the lethal injection drugs
were administered and that he was unconscious when Raybon read the death warrant.
Thus, the question before the Court is whether reasonable officials in the Defendants’
position would know that the duration and circumstances of Mr. James’ execution, as
alleged by the Estate, were unlawful in light of clearly established law.
The Estate relies on Bucklew’s statement that the Eighth Amendment forbids “forms
of punishment that intensif[y] the sentence of death with a (cruel) ‘superadd[ition]’ of
‘terror, pain, or disgrace.’” Bucklew, 587 U.S. at 131 (parenthetical in original) (second
alteration in original) (quoting Baze v. Rees, 553 U.S. 35, 48 (2008) (plurality op.)).
According to the Estate, this principle, coupled with the “particularly egregious” facts
alleged in the complaint, put the Defendants on notice that the prolonged nature of Mr.
James’ execution violated the Eighth Amendment. (Doc. 41 at 20). The Estate contends
that the allegation that it took “hours” to establish IV access for Mr. James is sufficiently
egregious to put the Defendants on notice that their conduct violated Mr. James’ rights.
(Id.). But the relevant Eighth Amendment question is not “how long it [took] for [Mr.
James] to die, but how long he [was] capable of feeling pain.” See Bucklew, 587 U.S. at
147. The Court acknowledges that, because he is deceased, Mr. James cannot testify as to
the amount or duration of pain he may have experienced during his execution. But
assuming for argument’s sake that Mr. James experienced severe pain during the prolonged
execution due to the numerous needle punctures and two incisions in his arm, the Estate
still must show that it was clearly established, in July 2022, that the Defendants subjected
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him to “‘superadd[ed]’ pain well beyond what[] [was] needed to effectuate [the] death
sentence.” See id. at 137.
In a factually similar, though not identical, case, another judge in this district
concluded that Kenneth Smith’s Eighth Amendment claim arising out of a failed execution
attempt—in which Mr. Smith alleged that he was painfully strapped to the execution
gurney for four hours; repeatedly stabbed with needles for one to two hours, including in
his muscles and one instance in which the “biggest needle he had ever seen” was plunged
into his collarbone in an attempt to establish a central line IV; all of which caused him
severe physical and psychological pain during and after the execution attempt—was barred
by qualified immunity because it was not clearly established that the defendants’ conduct
violated the Constitution. Smith v. Hamm, 2023 WL 4353143, at *7, *11 (M.D. Ala. July
5, 2023). The court reasoned that Mr. Smith’s pain allegedly “was caused by the officials’
use of needles to establish IV access, use of the straps, and positioning of Smith on the
execution gurney, which are customary (and arguably necessary) instruments for carrying
out a lethal injection execution, which time and again has been upheld as a constitutional
method of execution in Alabama and nationwide.” Id. at *11 (parenthetical in original).
Additionally, the court concluded that “it was not clearly established in November 2022
that the duration of the attempted execution violated Smith’s constitutional rights.” Id.
This Court finds Smith’s analysis persuasive and further finds that, on this record,
the Estate has failed to show that the prolonged nature of Mr. James’ execution violated
his clearly established constitutional rights.
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The Estate cites the Supreme Court’s
statements in Baze observing that Kentucky’s lethal injection protocol afforded the IV team
“one hour to establish both the primary and backup IVs, a length of time the trial court
found to be ‘not excessive but rather necessary.’” Baze, 553 U.S. at 55. Like the Smith
court, this Court finds Baze’s statements insufficient to place “beyond debate” the question
of whether Mr. James’ three-and-a-half-hour execution violated his constitutional rights.
See Smith, 2023 WL 4353143, at *11 (quoting Ashcroft, 563 U.S. at 741). Additionally,
to the extent that the Estate’s claims rest on the IV Team’s inability to establish IV access
within the timeframe adhered to by medical professionals, the Supreme Court has indicated
that, for purposes of the Eighth Amendment, executions are not governed by the same
standards as medical procedures. See Baze, 553 U.S. at 59–60 (rejecting as not “pertinent”
the fact that the use of certain supplementary procedures “is the standard of care in surgery
requiring anesthesia” because the petitioners did not show that these procedures, “drawn
from a different context, are necessary to avoid a substantial risk of suffering” during an
execution); Smith, 2023 WL 4353143, at *11 (making a similar observation).
Moreover, as in Smith, using needles to establish IV access on Mr. James was a
customary and arguably necessary aspect of a lethal injection execution. See Smith, 2023
WL 4353143, at *11. Thus, the Defendants’ alleged conduct in this regard did not “differ[]
in nature from that of a standard execution by lethal injection—even if the conduct alleged
differed in degree.” See id. All of these circumstances undermine the Estate’s assertions
that a reasonable official would have understood that what he or she was doing violated
Mr. James’ Eighth Amendment rights. See Anderson, 483 U.S. at 640.
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Moreover, accepting as true the Estate’s allegations that two incisions were made in
Mr. James’ left arm in an attempt to gain IV access, this conduct, either alone or in
combination with the execution’s duration and multiple needle punctures, does not
demonstrate that the Mr. James’ clearly established rights were violated. The Estate must
show that the Defendants subjected Mr. James to superadded pain “well beyond what[]
[was] needed to effectuate [the] death sentence.” See Bucklew, 587 U.S. at 137 (emphasis
added). Here, the Estate itself alleges that the incisions on Mr. James’ left arm, like the
multiple needle punctures, are “evidence of an attempt . . . to establish IV access.” (Doc. 1
at 15, para. 84). And again, establishing IV access is a customary and arguably necessary
part of a lethal injection execution. The Court does not suggest that any and all attempts
to establish IV access would be constitutionally permissible under clearly established law.
Here, however, the Estate has failed to show that, in July 2022, it was clearly established
that the Defendants’ alleged conduct subjected Mr. James to superadded pain “well beyond
what[] [was] needed to effectuate [the] death sentence.” See Bucklew, 587 U.S. at 137.
The Court further finds that the alleged forcible sedation of Mr. James, considered
separately or together with the Estate’s other allegations, is insufficient to demonstrate that
the Defendants violated clearly established law. The Estate does not cite any Supreme
Court or Eleventh Circuit decisions holding that forcibly sedating the condemned before
his or her execution violates the Constitution, and the Court’s independent research
revealed none. The Estate contends that Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399, 409–10 (1986),
a case involving a mentally ill inmate, provided sufficient notice to the Defendants that
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forcibly sedating Mr. James would violate his constitutional rights. (Doc. 41 at 25). In
Ford, the Supreme Court held that the Constitution “prohibits a State from carrying out a
sentence of death upon a prisoner who is insane.” 477 U.S. at 410. The Court further
explained that our history has longed questioned “the retributive value of executing a
person who has no comprehension of why he has been singled out and stripped of his
fundamental right to life,” and that civilized societies feel “abhorrence” at killing “one who
has no capacity to come to grips with his own conscience or deity.” Id. at 409. In its
complaint, the Estate also cites Supreme Court decisions analyzing the constitutionality of
executing a person suffering from a mental illness, see, e.g., Panetti v. Quarterman, 551
U.S. 930, 954–59 (2007), and forcible medication of a mentally ill prisoner outside the
execution context, see, e.g., Washington v. Harper, 494 U.S. 210, 229 (1990).
This Court concludes that the principles espoused in these cases are insufficient to
have made “[t]he contours of the [Eighth Amendment] right” at issue “sufficiently clear”
such that reasonable officials would have understood that their alleged conduct in the
factual circumstances alleged here—forcibly sedating an inmate before reading the death
warrant—violated that right. See Anderson, 483 U.S. at 640. “[O]fficials are not obligated
to be creative or imaginative in drawing analogies from previously decided cases,” and “[a]
reasonable official’s awareness of the existence of an abstract right . . . does not equate to
knowledge that his conduct infringes the right.” Coffin v. Brandau, 642 F.3d 999, 1015
(11th Cir. 2011) (third alteration in original) (emphasis in original) (citations omitted).
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This Court does not suggest that “anything goes” in the execution chamber. There
may be circumstances in which officials’ conduct in carrying out an execution is so
egregious that it violates clearly established law. “But given the high bar” for showing a
violation of a clearly established constitutional right and “the deference the Supreme Court
has afforded states in carrying out executions,” this Court is not persuaded that reasonable
officials would have known, in July 2022, that the acts or omissions which allegedly
occurred during Mr. James’ execution violated his Eighth Amendment right to be free from
cruel and unusual punishment. See Smith, 2023 WL 4353143, at *11; cf. Bucklew, 587 U.S.
at 134. Consequently, the Defendants’ motion to dismiss is due to be granted as to the
federal claims asserted in Counts One and Two.
2. Count Three
In Count Three, the Estate claims that the Defendants’ significant deviations from
Alabama’s lethal injection protocol violated Mr. James’ Eighth and Fourteenth
Amendment rights. The deviations about which the Estate complains include: (1) the
forcible sedation of Mr. James, which the Estate says deprived him of the opportunity to
hear the reading of the death warrant and to speak his last words; (2) the failure to perform
a consciousness check prior to administering the lethal injection drugs; and (3) the failure
to proceed to a central line procedure when it became clear that the Defendants would not
be able to establish IV access through the standard procedure. Because the Estate fails to
show that the alleged deviations from the lethal injection protocol violated clearly
established law, Count Three is also due to be dismissed.
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“Significant deviations from a protocol that protects inmates from cruel and unusual
punishment can violate the Eighth Amendment.” Arthur v. Thomas, 674 F.3d 1257, 1263
(11th Cir. 2012) (per curiam). In Arthur, the Eleventh Circuit concluded that the plaintiff
sufficient alleged “a plausible Equal Protection claim because he allege[d] that Alabama
has substantially deviated from its execution protocol in a manner that significantly reduces
inmate safeguards.” Id. The plaintiff alleged that during a recent execution, Alabama failed
to perform a consciousness check required by its lethal injection protocol. Id. The court
further explained that “[t]he consciousness check is performed to reduce or eliminate the
risk of excruciating pain that would follow the injection of the second and third drugs in
the lethal injection protocol.” Id. The court reasoned that, based on the plaintiff’s allegation
that “Alabama failed to perform a required consciousness check in a recent execution, a
significant deviation from its execution protocol,” combined with his “other allegations
regarding the veil of secrecy that surrounds Alabama’s execution protocol,” it was
“certainly not speculative and indeed plausible that Alabama will disparately treat [the
plaintiff] because the protocol is not certain and could be unexpectedly changed for his
execution.” Id.
Here, the Estate does not allege or argue that the failure to perform a consciousness
check on Mr. James or the failure to proceed to a central line procedure exposed him to a
substantial risk of suffering or otherwise constituted cruel and unusual punishment under
clearly established law. See Bucklew, 587 U.S. at 137. Moreover, for substantially the
same reasons stated above in Section V.A.1., the Estate’s allegation that Mr. James’
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forcible sedation was a significant deviation from the execution protocol is insufficient to
show that the Defendants’ conduct violated Mr. James’ clearly established Eighth
Amendment rights.
To the extent the Estate contends that the alleged deviations from the protocol
violated Mr. James’ equal protection rights independently of whether the deviations
“significantly reduce[d] inmate safeguards,” see Arthur, 674 F.3d at 1263, this argument
is unavailing. Although Arthur ultimately held that the plaintiff stated a plausible equal
protection claim, id., the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual
punishment factored into the court’s analysis, in particular its statement that “[s]ignificant
deviations from a protocol that protects inmates from cruel and unusual punishment can
violate the Eighth Amendment,” see id. At the very least, a reasonable official could have
believed, in July 2022, that a finding that significant deviations from an execution protocol
violate the Equal Protection Clause also requires a finding that those deviations
“significantly reduce[] inmate safeguards.” See id. Thus, to the extent the Estate contends
that the alleged deviations from the protocol, such as the deprivation of Mr. James’
opportunity to speak his last words, independently violated Mr. James’ equal protection
rights, the Court finds that on this record, the Estate fails to show that the alleged deviations
violated clearly established law. Consequently, the Court concludes that the Defendants’
motion to dismiss is due to be granted as to the federal claims asserted in Count Three.
Because the Court concludes that the Estate has failed to establish a violation of
Mr. James’ clearly established constitutional rights, the Court need not, and does not,
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“reach the other qualified immunity question of whether a constitutional violation occurred
in the first place.” See Corbitt, 929 F.3d at 1323.
B. State Law Claims
In addition to bringing federal claims pursuant to § 1983, the Estate brings claims
against all Defendants for alleged violations of the Alabama Constitution and an Alabama
law wrongful death claim. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(3), the Court declines to
exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the Estate’s state law claims.
Where all federal claims are dismissed prior to trial, district courts are encouraged
to dismiss any remaining state law claims. Raney v. Allstate Ins. Co., 370 F.3d 1086, 1088–
89 (11th Cir. 2004). Before doing so, the Court must consider the factors of judicial
economy, convenience, fairness, and comity. See Ameritox, Ltd. v. Millennium Labs., Inc.,
803 F.3d 518, 537 (11th Cir. 2015). “Both comity and economy are served when issues of
state law are resolved by state courts.” Rowe v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 279 F.3d 1271,
1288 (11th Cir. 2002). “Federal courts are (and should be) loath to wade into uncharted
waters of state law, and should only do so when absolutely necessary to the disposition of
a case.” Ameritox, 803 F.3d at 540 (parenthetical in original). Here, there are numerous
state law issues raised, including state immunity issues, all of which are best resolved by
the state courts. Further, there is nothing before the Court to suggest that the remaining
factors—convenience and fairness—weigh in favor of retaining jurisdiction over the
claims arising under state law. Moreover, the Court can discern no significant prejudice to
any party, particularly considering § 1367(d)’s provision tolling the statute of limitations
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on the state law claims.
Accordingly, the Court declines to exercise supplemental
jurisdiction over the state law claims in this action pursuant to § 1367(c)(3), and those
claims are due to be dismissed without prejudice. See Crosby v. Paulk, 187 F.3d 1339,
1352 (11th Cir. 1999) (explaining that when a court declines to exercise supplemental
jurisdiction over state law claims in a case originally filed in federal court, the state law
claims “should be dismissed without prejudice so that the claims may be refiled in the
appropriate state court”).
VI. CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated, and for good cause, it is
ORDERED as follows:
1.
The Defendants’ motion to dismiss (doc. 33) is GRANTED as follows:
a. Judgment is entered against the Plaintiff and in favor of the Defendants
on the federal claims;
b. The Court declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state
law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367, and the state law claims are
DISMISSED without prejudice;
2.
This case is DISMISSED.
A separate Final Judgment will be entered.
DONE this 26th day of March, 2024.
/s/ Emily C. Marks
EMILY C. MARKS
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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