IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA 

NORTHERN DIVISION

WILLIE MCNAIR, ) 

 ) 

 Plaintiff/Counter-Defendant, ) 

 ) 

v. ) No. 2:06-cv-00695-WKW-CSC 

 ) 

RICHARD ALLEN, Commissioner, ) 

Alabama Deparment of ) 

Corrections, et al., ) 

 ) 

 Defendants/Counter-Plaintiffs. ) 

__________________________________ 

JAMES CALLAHAN, ) 

 ) 

 Plaintiff/Counter-Defendant, ) 

 ) 

v. ) No. 2:06-cv-00919-WKW-CSC 

 ) 

RICHARD ALLEN, et al., ) 

 ) 

 Defendants/Counter-Plaintiffs. ) 

DEFENDANTS’ OBJECTIONS TO CERTAIN ITEMS

LISTED ON PLAINTIFFS’ EXHIBIT LIST

 Pursuant to the Court’s scheduling order, Defendants submit the following written 

objections to certain items listed on the Exhibit List submitted by the Plaintiffs: 

1. Defendants object to the videotapes of inmate autopsies produced by the 

Alabama Department of Forensics. There is no information on the videos that could not 

also be submitted by the still photographs listed on Plaintiffs’ exhibit list. The tapes are 

cumulative and a waste of time. Moreover, a video of an autopsy is gruesome and 

prejudicial in ways that a still photograph is not (at least not to the same extent). 

Therefore, the videotapes may be excluded on the authority of F.R.E. 403. 

Case 2:06-cv-00695-WKW-CSC Document 107 Filed 09/19/2007 Page 1 of 4
2. Defendants object to the videotape of a documentary presented by 

MSNBC on Holman Prison, the facility where executions take place. Only a brief 

portion of the documentary concerns executions, and the rest concerns prison discipline 

and prison life. General conditions at Holman Prison are not the subject of this trial and 

such evidence is irrelevant and prejudicial. Therefore, any portion not directly 

concerning executions is inadmissible. FRE 402, 403. Further, the brief portions dealing 

with executions are cumulative and a waste of time, when this Court will be hearing 

directly from Warden Culliver and will itself view the execution facilities. FRE 403. 

3. Plaintiffs list numerous items that concern executions or execution 

protocols in other states (the last entry on page 7 of Plaintiffs’ exhibit list, the first five 

entries on page 8, and the last two entries on page 9) . Defendants object to such items 

on grounds that executions in other states are conducted by different officials in different 

facilities, and such evidence is not relevant to the question of whether McNair and 

Callahan’s executions will be properly conducted. FRE 402. 

4. Plaintiffs list items that concern errors made by health care professionals 

in a medical setting, such as a hospital (the sixth and last items on page 8 and the first and 

second items on page 9). An execution is not a medical procedure and does not involve 

the same standard of care as a medical procedure. See Walker v. Johnson, 448 F.Supp.2d 

719, 723 (E.D.Va. 2006) (“An execution by lethal injection is not a medical procedure 

and does not require the same standard of care as one.”) See also Timberlake v. Buss, 

___ F.Supp.2d ___, ___ 2007 WL 1280664 (S.D. Ind. May 1, 2007), aff’d, Woods v. 

Buss, ___ F.3d ___, 2007 WL 1302119 (7th Cir. May 3, 2007); Workman v. Bredesen, 

486 F.3d 896 (6th Cir. 2007), cert. denied, 127 S.Ct 2160 (2007). Therefore, evidence 

Case 2:06-cv-00695-WKW-CSC Document 107 Filed 09/19/2007 Page 2 of 4
concerning medical procedures is irrelevant and inadmissible in a case concerning 

judicial executions, where wholly different standards apply. FRE 402. 

5. Defendants also object to the 2007 American Veterinary Medical 

Association Guidelines on Euthanasia. Because of fundamental differences in 

physiology and setting, guidelines concerning animal euthanasia have no relevance in a 

case concerning the execution of human beings. FRE 402. 

TROY KING (KIN047) 

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BY: 

s/ James W. Davis 

James W. Davis (DAV103)

Assistant Attorney General 

J. Clayton Crenshaw (CRE007) 

Assistant Attorney General 

OF COUNSEL: 

Office of the Attorney General 

11 South Union Street 

Montgomery, AL 36130 

(334) 242-7300 

(334) 353-8440 Fax 

Email: ccrenshaw@ago.state.al.us 

jimdavis@ago.state.al.us 

Case 2:06-cv-00695-WKW-CSC Document 107 Filed 09/19/2007 Page 3 of 4
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

This is to certify that on the 19th day of September, 2007, a copy of the foregoing 

has been electronically filed with the Clerk of the Court using the CM/ECF system, 

which will electronically send a copy of the same to the following: 

Randall S. Susskind 

Cathleen I. Price 

Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama 

122 Commerce Street 

Montgomery, AL 36104 

cprice@eji.org

rsusskind@eji.org

Vincent R. Fitzpatrick, Jr. (SDNY Bar No. VF2907) 

Heather K. Mcdevitt (SDNY Bar No. HM9973) 

Stephanie Cohen (SDNY Bar No. SM7006) 

White & Case LLP 

1155 Avenue of the Americas 

New York, NY 10036 

Telephone: (212) 819-8200 

Facsimile: (212) 354-8113 

vfitzpatrick@whitecase.com

hmcdevitt@whitecase.com

stephcohen@whitecase.com

OF COUNSEL 

S/ James W. Davis 

James W. Davis (DAV103)

Assistant Attorney General 

office of the Attorney General 

11 South Union Street 

Montgomery, AL 36130 

(334) 242-7300 

(334) 353-8440 Fax 

Email: jimdavis@ago.state.al.us 

Case 2:06-cv-00695-WKW-CSC Document 107 Filed 09/19/2007 Page 4 of 4