Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/14-7955_aplc.pdf
Page Number: 71

Cite as:  576 U. S. ____ (2015) 

21 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

Moreover,  we  must  consider  death  warrants  that  have 
been  issued  and  revoked,  not  once,  but  repeatedly.    See, 
e.g., Pet. for Cert. in Suárez Medina v. Texas, O. T. 2001, 
No. 02–5752, pp. 35–36 (filed Aug. 13, 2002) (“On fourteen
separate  occasions  since  Mr.  Suárez  Medina’s  death  sen­
tence was imposed, he has been informed of the time, date, 
and  manner  of  his  death.  At  least  eleven  times,  he 
has  been  asked  to  describe  the  disposal  of  his  bodily 
remains”);  Lithwick,  Cruel  but  not  Unusual,  Slate, 
Apr.  1,  2011,  online  at  http://www.slate.com/articles/
news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2011/04/cruel_but_not_
unusual.html  (John  Thompson  had  seven  death  warrants
signed before he was exonerated); see also, e.g., WFMZ-TV 
69  News,  Michael  John  Parrish’s  Execution  Warrant 
Signed  by  Governor  Corbett  (Aug.  18,  2014),  online  at 
http: / / www.wfmz.com /news/Regional-Poconos-Coal / Local/
michael-john-parrishs-execution-warrant-signed-by-governor- 
corbett/27595356  (former  Pennsylvania  Governor  signed 
36  death  warrants  in  his  first  3.5  years  in  office  even 
though  Pennsylvania  has  not  carried  out  an  execution 
since 1999).

Several  inmates  have  come  within  hours  or  days  of
execution  before  later  being  exonerated.  Willie  Manning 
was  four  hours  from  his  scheduled  execution  before  the 
Mississippi  Supreme  Court  stayed  the  execution.    See 
Robertson,  With  Hours  to  Go,  Execution  is  Postponed,
N. Y. Times, Apr. 8, 2015, p. A17.  Two years later, Man­
ning  was  exonerated  after  the  evidence  against  him,  in­
cluding flawed testimony from an FBI hair examiner, was 
severely  undermined.  Nave,  Why  Does  the  State  Still 
Want to Kill Willie Jerome Manning? Jackson Free Press,
Apr. 29, 2015.  Nor is Manning an outlier case.  See, e.g.,
Martin,  Randall  Adams,  61,  Dies;  Freed  With  Help  of 
Film,  N. Y.  Times,  June  26,  2011,  p. 24  (Randall  Adams:
stayed  by  this  Court  three  days  before  execution;  later
exonerated);  N.  Davies,  White  Lies  231,  292,  298,  399