In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action challenging Tennessee's lethal injection protocol under the Eighth Amendment, judgment for Plaintiff is vacated where Baze v. Rees, 128 S. Ct. 1520 (2008), addressed the same risks identified by the District Court, but reached the conclusion that they did not rise to the level of a constitutional violation.
Argued: January 20, 2009
Decided and Filed: July 2, 2009
Opinion by Judge Siler
Dissenting Opinion by Judge Clay
Joseph Frederick Whalen, Office of the Tennessee Attorney General, Nashville, TN