Opinion ID: 3065871
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the eighth amendment challenge

Text: At the hearing before this court, the State made a number of representations and undertook to alter the 2012 Protocol in various ways with respect to Towery and Moormann. We accept those representations and undertakings as binding on the State. The protocol therefore consists of the following, as it will be applied at Towery and Moormann’s executions: [1] 1. One-Drug Protocol: We review the 2012 Protocol only as it pertains to the one-drug protocol. We are not reviewing the three-drug protocol; any challenge to the threedrug protocol is moot for purposes of this appeal. TOWERY v. BREWER 2515 2. The 2012 Protocol with the following amendments and undertakings, as agreed to by the State: [2] a. Qualifications of the IV Team: According to the State, the IV Team to be used for both executions is comprised of a licensed nurse with seventeen years of experience and a medically-licensed physician. Both of these individuals have had experience placing IVs within the last twelve months, not including any placements performed or training gained during the recent pre-execution training sessions. The State also reaffirmed the position it took before the district court that “relevant experience,” as used in Paragraph 1.2.5.1 of the 2012 Protocol, means that IV Team members must have no less than the training that is traditionally given for people to be licensed to place IVs. We view this representation as a binding one that cabins the meaning of “appropriately trained” and “relevant experience” in the context of the 2012 Protocol. b. Backup Drugs: In addition to the full set of syringes to be used “in the implementation of the death sentence,” the State represented that there will be one additional set of syringes, along with the necessary chemicals and drugs, available for immediate administration should circumstances so require. The State acknowledged at oral argument that this backup arrangement was “no big deal.” The IV Team members shall insert a primary IV catheter and a backup IV catheter, as required by Attachment D, § E.1 of the 2012 Protocol. c. Access to Counsel: Counsel for Towery and Moormann will be permitted in-person visits with their clients, including during the morning of the execution, under the long-standing ADC practice, as reflected in Department Order 710-IO-F (Nov. 5, 2004), § 710.02, ¶ 1.3.3.5. [3] Our decision is contingent upon the State’s representations and commitments made during the preliminary injunction hearing. With these representations, the protocol parallels 2516 TOWERY v. BREWER the one reviewed under Dickens with respect to training and qualifications of the IV Team and the availability of backup drugs and catheters. It also mirrors the prior practice regarding access to counsel and resolves Towery and Moormann’s claims on these issues. The remaining claim relates to the number of training sessions. That issue largely goes away in light of the identification of the qualifications of the individuals who will be on the IV Team for Towery and Moormann’s executions. Nonetheless, we address it because it was not directly encompassed in the representations made during the hearing before us. We do so, however, not in the abstract, but in light of the training and experience of the current members of the IV Team. [4] The 2012 Protocol eliminates the requirement that IV Team members participate in ten practice sessions per year. Instead, the IV Team members are only required to participate in training sessions scheduled for one day prior to the actual execution. 2012 Protocol, § 710.02, ¶ 1.2.5.5. While ten trainings may be better than a single one-day training, Towery and Moormann do not make a showing that for their executions the lack of practice occasioned from the singular day of trainings will lead to a substantial risk of harm. An inmate cannot succeed on an Eighth Amendment claim by showing one more step the State could take as a failsafe for other, independently adequate measures. Baze, 553 U.S. at 60-61. “Where an execution protocol contains sufficient safeguards, the risk of not adopting an additional safeguard is too ‘remote and attenuated’ to give rise to a substantial risk of serious harm.” Dickens, 631 F.3d at 1149 (citing Baze, 553 U.S. at 58-59). [5] The amended 2012 Protocol, as outlined above, on the basis of representations and commitments made at the February 27 hearing, comports with the protocol approved in Baze. We therefore conclude that Towery and Moormann have not demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on their Eighth Amendment challenge. TOWERY v. BREWER 2517