Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/14-7955_aplc.pdf
Page Number: 13

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

9 

Opinion of the Court 

Glossip, Benjamin Cole, John Grant, and Warner—filed a
motion  for  a  preliminary  injunction.  All  four  men  had 
been convicted of murder and sentenced to death by Okla-
homa  juries.  Glossip  hired  Justin  Sneed  to  kill  his  em-
ployer,  Barry  Van  Treese.    Sneed  entered  a  room  where 
Van  Treese  was  sleeping  and  beat  him  to  death  with  a
baseball  bat.    See  Glossip  v.  State,  2007  OK  CR  12,  157 
P. 3d  143,  147–149.    Cole  murdered  his  9-month-old 
daughter  after  she  would  not  stop  crying.    Cole  bent  her  
body backwards until he snapped her spine in half.  After 
the child died, Cole played video games.  See Cole v. State, 
2007 OK CR 27, 164 P. 3d 1089, 1092–1093.  Grant, while 
serving  terms  of  imprisonment  totaling  130  years,  killed
Gay  Carter,  a  prison  food  service  supervisor,  by  pulling 
her  into  a  mop  closet  and  stabbing  her  numerous  times
with  a  shank.  See  Grant  v.  State,  2002  OK  CR  36,  58 
P. 3d 783, 789.  Warner anally raped and murdered an 11-
month-old  girl.  The  child’s  injuries  included  two  skull 
fractures, internal brain injuries, two fractures to her jaw,
a  lacerated  liver,  and  a  bruised  spleen  and  lungs.    See 
Warner v. State, 2006 OK CR 40, 144 P. 3d 838, 856–857. 
The  Oklahoma  Court  of  Criminal  Appeals  affirmed  the
murder  conviction  and  death  sentence  of  each  offender. 
Each  of  the  men  then  unsuccessfully  sought  both  state
postconviction  and  federal  habeas  corpus  relief.    Having
exhausted  the  avenues  for  challenging  their  convictions
and  sentences,  they  moved  for  a  preliminary  injunction 
against Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocol. 

B 

In  December  2014,  after  discovery,  the  District  Court 
held  a  3-day  evidentiary  hearing  on  the  preliminary  in-
junction motion.  The District Court heard testimony from
17 witnesses and reviewed numerous exhibits.  Dr. David 
Lubarsky,  an  anesthesiologist,  and  Dr.  Larry  Sasich,  a 
doctor  of  pharmacy,  provided  expert  testimony  about