Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 914.0

ORDERS 

1067 

558 U. S. 

November 30, December 2, 2009 

denied.  Justice  Sotomayor  took  no  part  in  the  consideration 
or  decision  of  this  motion. 

No. 09–5692.  Njoku v.  Holder, Attorney General, et al., 
ante,  p.  916.  Motion  for  leave  to  ﬁle  petition  for  rehearing 
denied. 

Certiorari  Denied 

December  2,  2009 

No.  09–7839  (09A521).  Johnson  v.  Bredesen,  Governor  of 
Tennessee,  et  al.  C.  A.  6th  Cir.  Application  for  stay  of  exe­
cution  of  sentence  of  death,  presented  to  Justice  Stevens,  and 
by  him  referred  to  the  Court,  denied.  Certiorari  denied. 

Statement  of  Justice  Stevens,  with  whom  Justice  Breyer 
joins,  respecting  the  denial  of  the  petition  for  writ  of  certiorari. 
Petitioner Cecil Johnson, Jr., has been conﬁned to a solitary cell 
awaiting  his  execution  for  nearly  29  years.1  Johnson  bears  little, 
if  any,  responsibility  for  this delay.  After  his  execution  date  was 
set  and  on  the  day  the  Governor  of  Tennessee  denied  him  clem­
ency,  Johnson  brought  this  Eighth  Amendment  challenge  under 
Rev.  Stat.  § 1979,  42  U. S. C.  § 1983,  to  enjoin  the  State  from  exe­
cuting  him  after  this  lengthy  and  inhumane  delay.  See  Lackey 
v.  Texas,  514  U. S.  1045,  1045–1046  (1995)  (Stevens,  J.,  statement 
respecting denial of certiorari); see also Thompson v.  McNeil, 556 
U. S.  1114, 1115–1116  (2009) (same);  id., at  1119–1120 (Breyer,  J., 
dissenting  from  denial  of  certiorari).  Because  I  remain  steadfast 
in  my  view  “that  executing  defendants  after  such  delays  is  unac­
ceptably  cruel,”  id.,  at  1116,  I  would  grant  the  stay  application 
and  the  petition  for  certiorari. 

Johnson  was  tried  and  convicted  of  three  counts  of  ﬁrst-degree 
murder  in  1981.  He  continues  to  maintain  his  innocence.  Veri­
ﬁed  Complaint  in  No.  3:09–1133  (MD  Tenn.),  ¶ 9,  App.  to  Pet.  for 
Cert.  15.  There  was  no  physical  evidence  tying  Johnson  to  the 
crime.  See  Johnson  v.  Bell,  525  F.  3d  466,  490  (CA6  2008)  (Cole, 
J.,  dissenting).  In  1992  a  change  in  state  law  gave  Johnson  ac­
cess,  for  the  ﬁrst  time,  to  substantial  evidence  undermining  key 

1 “Inmates  who  are  under  a  sentence  of  death  shall  be  single-celled  and 
housed  in  a  maximum  security  unit  separate  from  the  general  popula­
tion.”  State  of  Tennessee,  Dept.  of  Correction,  Administrative  Policies  and 
Procedures,  Index  #506.14(VI)(B)(2)  (2009),  online  at  http://www.state.tn.us/ 
correction/pdf/506-14.pdf  (as  visited  Dec.  1,  2009).