Court Opinion

ID: 9798805
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 05:26:42.74309+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:11:21.036327
License: Public Domain

WILSON, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I agree that the district court properly found that Chavez failed to demonstrate a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of his claims and is thus not entitled to a stay of his execution. Therefore, I concur in the majority opinion. I write separately to underscore that the question of whether a significant change has occurred to a state’s lethal injection protocol is a fact-intensive inquiry for which an evidentiary hearing is especially important. The district judge in this case properly conducted an evidentiary hearing and thoroughly studied the parties’ filings and exhibits and the governing legal principles. Indeed, while the district court concluded that expert anesthesiologist Dr. Lubar-sky’s testimony was ultimately speculative and insufficient to meet Chavez’s burden, nothing prevents a future inmate from presenting an anesthesiologist or expert to *1276assert an opinion based on more conclusive and methodologically sound results. Further, in the event of a botched execution in this or a future case, such evidence may be relevant in a subsequent Eighth Amendment challenge to Florida’s execution practices.