Opinion ID: 4181681
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Availability of an alternative

Text: To succeed on their Eighth Amendment claim, Plaintiffs must also show that there is “an alternative that is ‘feasible, readily implemented, and in fact significantly reduce[s] a substantial risk of severe pain.’” Glossip, 135 S. Ct. at 2737 (quoting Baze, 553 U.S. at 52) (alteration in No. 17-3076 In re Ohio Execution Protocol Litig. Page 26 original). Glossip explicitly states that whether an alternative method of execution is available is a “factual finding” subject to the “clearly erroneous” standard of review. Glossip, 135 S. Ct. at 2738. Other than defining “availability” as a factual finding, the Supreme Court provides little guidance as to the definition of “availability.” As the district court observed, “In Baze and Glossip, the Supreme Court did not attempt to quantify how available the alternative method must be to qualify.” Decision & Order at 107. Plaintiffs proposed two alternative execution methods. For different reasons, each of these alternatives warrants a remand for a trial on the merits. As to the first alternative, a onedrug protocol using compounded pentobarbital, the district court found that by proposing compounded pentobarbital, “Plaintiffs have met their burden to identify a sufficiently available alternative method of execution to satisfy Baze and Glossip.” Decision & Order at 107. Ohio does not currently have pentobarbital on hand and it cannot purchase pentobarbital to use in executions directly from drug manufacturers. However, according to the district court, Ohio has taken key steps toward acquiring compounded pentobarbital, including passing secrecy statutes “to protect the anonymity of potential suppliers and compounders,” and applying for the import license necessary to purchase pentobarbital’s active ingredient. Id. This court resolved litigation over the secrecy statutes and entry of a protective order in Ohio’s favor. See In re: Ohio Execution Protocol Litig. (Fears v. Kasich), 845 F.3d 231, 240 (6th Cir. 2016); Phillips v. DeWine, 841 F.3d 405, 420 (6th Cir. 2016). These favorable resolutions facilitate the State’s access to compounded pentobarbital. The district court also noted that Dr. Buffington, who helped develop Ohio’s current execution protocol and who testified about the content of an affidavit he submitted in an Alabama case, “stated in his affidavit in that case that since other states had been able to procure compounded pentobarbital for their executions, he believed it could be obtained.” Decision & Order at 95. Because Defendants’ own expert testified that compounded pentobarbital could be obtained, because Ohio succeeded in passing secrecy statutes and securing a protective order for the specific purpose of obtaining compounded pentobarbital, and because Ohio is currently undertaking the steps necessary to secure compounded pentobarbital, I am not “left with the definite and firm conviction” that the district court erred when it found that compounded No. 17-3076 In re Ohio Execution Protocol Litig. Page 27 pentobarbital is an available alternative. Anderson, 470 U.S. at 573 (quoting United States Gypsum Co., 333 U.S. at 395). I would defer to the district court’s finding that compounded pentobarbital is available. For the second alternative, Plaintiffs proposed a two-drug protocol using midazolam and potassium chloride without a paralytic drug. Having decided that compounded pentobarbital is an available alternative, the district court did not make a finding as to whether the second alternative is available, or as to the more difficult question whether the second alternative would “significantly reduce[] a substantial risk of severe pain.” Glossip, 135 S. Ct. at 2737 (quoting Baze, 553 U.S. at 52). Particularly if the majority is correct that compounded pentobarbital is not an available alternative, Plaintiffs are entitled to a finding as to whether the second alternative satisfies the Baze/Glossip standard. Instead, the majority has determined that Plaintiffs should be executed with Ohio’s three-drug protocol without a court ever deciding whether their proposed two-drug protocol would significantly reduce the substantial risk of severe pain. There may be other possible execution methods that, if given a trial, Plaintiffs could prove are available and significantly reduce a substantial risk of severe pain. As anyone who reads the newspaper knows, the nation, and Ohio in particular, is in the midst of a virulent drugdeath epidemic. See, e.g., Kristine Phillips, Drugs Are Killing So Many People in Ohio That Cold-Storage Trailers Are Being Used As Morgues, Wash. Post (Mar. 16, 2017), http://wapo.st/2mNjFEp?tid=ss_mail&utm_term=.e29b9f46cfc8 (“As with much of the United States, Ohio is in the throes of a heroin and opioid epidemic that shows no signs of abating. . . . The drug epidemic also has caused [Stark] county to spend roughly $75,000 a year in toxicology tests alone . . . . ‘We’re just spending all kinds of money on lab work because there’s so many different drugs,’ [Stark County investigator Rick Walters] said.”); Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura, Amid Opioid Overdoses, Ohio Coroner’s Office Runs Out of Room for Bodies, N.Y. Times (Feb. 2, 2017), https://nyti.ms/2k0DV2Z (“On Thursday, only two days into February, the coroner’s office in Dayton, Ohio, had already handled 25 deaths — 18 caused by drug overdoses. In January, the office processed 145 cases in which the victims’ bodies had been destroyed by opioids.”); Katharine Q. Seelye et al., Inside a Killer Drug Epidemic: A Look at America’s Opioid Crisis, N.Y. Times (Jan. 6, 2017), https://nyti.ms/2k21lF0 (“Public health officials have No. 17-3076 In re Ohio Execution Protocol Litig. Page 28 called the current opioid epidemic the worst drug crisis in American history, killing more than 33,000 people in 2015. Overdose deaths were nearly equal to the number of deaths from car crashes. In 2015, for the first time, deaths from heroin alone surpassed gun homicides.”); Courtney Astolfi, Report: Ohio Ground-Zero for Opioid Overdose Deaths, Cleveland.com (Dec. 1, 2016), http://s.cleveland.com/OlL8JFD (“The Buckeye State topped the list of opioid overdose deaths among all 50 states, racking up 2,106 deaths in 2014.”). Given these reports, there are obviously multiple drugs that could be used to execute people. The district court’s findings in this case were not clearly erroneous. The district court did not clearly err by finding that Ohio’s current three-drug protocol creates a substantial risk of severe pain, and it did not clearly err by finding that alternative protocols are available. Not only did the district court not clearly err in its factual finding that compounded pentobarbital is an available alternative, but there are other possible alternative protocols that no court has ruled on. Plaintiffs proposed a two-drug protocol, and the district court did not rule on this alternative. Moreover, there may be other drug protocols that Plaintiffs would propose if given an opportunity to litigate this case fully. Therefore, Plaintiffs have satisfied the first requirement for a preliminary injunction by demonstrating a substantial likelihood of success on their Eighth Amendment claim. 2. Likelihood of irreparable harm, balance of equities, and public interest Having determined that Plaintiffs failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of their Eighth Amendment claim, the majority does not assess whether Plaintiffs have satisfied the other requirements for a preliminary injunction. Because in my view Plaintiffs did show a likelihood of success on the merits, I address the other three requirements. Plaintiffs satisfy each one. Plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm if executed by a drug protocol later determined to be unconstitutional. “The key word in this consideration is irreparable.” Babler, 618 F.3d at 523–24 (quoting Sampson v. Murray, 415 U.S. 61, 90 (1974)). “A plaintiff’s harm from the denial of a preliminary injunction is irreparable if it is not fully compensable by monetary damages.” Obama for Am. v. Husted, 697 F.3d 423, 436 (6th Cir. 2012) (quoting Certified No. 17-3076 In re Ohio Execution Protocol Litig. Page 29 Restoration Dry Cleaning Network, L.L.C. v. Tenke Corp., 511 F.3d 535, 550 (6th Cir. 2007)). Being executed by a method of execution that is later determined to be unconstitutional is quintessentially an injury that is not fully compensable. Or, as the district court noted, “[t]he irreparable harm to the named Plaintiffs if temporary injunctive relief is not granted is patent”; “[w]hether or not Plaintiffs’ claims survive their deaths, the injury would be irreparable.” Decision & Order at 116. For the same reason, the balance of the equities favors Plaintiffs. Although “a State retains a significant interest in meting out a sentence of death in a timely fashion,” Nelson v. Campbell, 541 U.S. 637, 644 (2004), the harm from a delay in meting out a death sentence is not an irreparable harm. As a result, balancing the equities counsels in favor of delaying executions until a full trial on the merits can be held on the method of execution. Finally, the public interest favors Plaintiffs. The public has an interest in sentences being carried out, but it also has an interest in ensuring that those sentences are carried out in a constitutional manner. “[I]t is always in the public interest to prevent violation of a party’s constitutional rights.” Deja Vu of Nashville, Inc. v. Metro. Gov’t of Nashville & Davidson Cty., 274 F.3d 377, 400 (6th Cir. 2001) (quoting G & V Lounge, Inc. v. Mich. Liquor Control Comm’n, 23 F.3d 1071, 1079 (6th Cir. 1994)). As the district court stated, “[o]n balance, the public interest weighs in favor of granting temporary injunctive relief, but maintaining a fast track approach to adjudicating Plaintiffs’ claims on the merits.” Decision & Order at 118.