Abdur'Rahman v. Bredesen
| Decision Date | 17 October 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. M2003-01767-SC-R11-CV.,M2003-01767-SC-R11-CV. |
| Citation | 181 S.W.3d 292 |
| Parties | Abu-Ali ABDUR'RAHMAN v. Phil BREDESEN, et al. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Bradley A. MacLean and Cynthia W. MacLean, Nashville, Tennessee, and William P. Redick, Jr., Whites Creek, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General; Joseph F. Whalen, Associate Solicitor General; and Stephanie R. Reevers, Associate Deputy Attorney General, for the Appellees, Phil Bredesen, Quenton White, Ricky Bell, Virginia Lewis, and Tennessee Department of Correction.
Stephen J. Zraleck and Melody Fowler-Green, Nashville, Tennessee, for Amici Curiae, American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and Sidelines Newspaper.
Peter D. Heil, Nashville, Tennessee, for Amicus Curiae, Tennessee Medical Professionals.
E. RILEY ANDERSON, C.J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which FRANK F. DROWOTA, III, ADOLPHO A. BIRCH, JR., JANICE M. HOLDER, and WILLIAM M. BARKER, JJ., joined.
We granted review to address several issues regarding the Tennessee Department of Correction's protocol for executing inmates who have been sentenced to death by lethal injection. After our review of the record and applicable authority, we conclude that the lethal injection protocol in Tennessee, which includes intravenous injections of sodium Pentothal, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride, (1) does not violate the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution or article I section 16 of the Tennessee Constitution, (2) does not violate due process provisions under the United States or Tennessee Constitutions, (3) does not deny access to the courts in violation of the United States or Tennessee Constitutions, (4) does not violate the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, (5) does not violate the Nonlivestock Animal Humane Death Act, (6) does not violate provisions governing the practice of medicine and provision of healthcare services, and (7) does not violate the Drug Control Act or Pharmacy Practice Act. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
In 1987, Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman, formerly known as James Lee Jones, ("petitioner"), was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death by a jury in Davidson County, Tennessee.1 State v. Jones, 789 S.W.2d 545, 550 (Tenn.1990). Because the petitioner's case has had a lengthy history in state and federal courts, we begin by summarizing the relevant procedural background.
In February of 1986, the petitioner and a co-defendant entered the home of Patrick Daniels and Norma Norman under the guise of buying drugs. After binding and blindfolding the victims, the petitioner repeatedly stabbed Daniels in the chest while Daniels pleaded for his life, and he stabbed Norman several times in the back. Daniels died as a result of the stab wounds to his chest, but Norman survived. Id. at 550.
The jury imposed the death sentence for the killing of Daniels after determining that evidence of the following aggravating circumstances outweighed evidence of mitigating factors: the petitioner had a prior conviction for a felony involving the use of violence or the threat of violence to the person; the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel in that it involved torture or depravity of mind; and the murder was committed during the perpetration of an armed robbery. Id. at 552-53.
This Court affirmed the first degree murder conviction and death sentence on direct appeal in 1990. Id. at 553. The United States Supreme Court denied a writ of certiorari. Jones v. Tennessee, 498 U.S. 908, 111 S.Ct. 280, 112 L.Ed.2d 234 (1990).
After his direct appeal, the petitioner challenged his convictions and his death sentence by filing a petition for post-conviction relief. The trial court denied post-conviction relief, and the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed. Jones v. State, 1995 WL 75427 (Tenn.Crim.App., Feb.23, 1995). This Court denied the petitioner's application for permission to appeal, Jones v. State, 1995 WL 75427 (Tenn., Feb. 23, 1995), and the United States Supreme Court again denied a writ of certiorari. Jones v. Tennessee, 516 U.S. 1122, 116 S.Ct. 933, 133 L.Ed.2d 860 (1996).
In April of 1996, the petitioner initiated what have amounted to extensive and lengthy proceedings in federal court by filing a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. The district court found that the petitioner had been denied effective assistance of counsel during the sentencing phase of his trial, vacated the death penalty, and granted a new sentencing hearing. The district court further found that a prosecutorial misconduct issue could not be reviewed because the petitioner had not raised the issue in his application for permission to appeal to this Court. Abdur'Rahman v. Bell, 999 F.Supp. 1073 (M.D.Tenn.1998).
On appeal, a divided panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the petitioner had not established prejudice from his counsel's ineffectiveness in the sentencing phase of the trial, reversed the district court's judgment, and reinstated the petitioner's death sentence. Abdur'Rahman v. Bell, 226 F.3d 696 (6th Cir.2000). The United States Supreme Court denied a writ of certiorari. Abdur'Rahman v. Bell, 534 U.S. 970, 122 S.Ct. 386, 151 L.Ed.2d 294 (2001).
After the denial of certiorari, the petitioner filed a motion seeking relief from the judgment in the district court and a motion seeking to vacate the judgment in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b). The petitioner alleged that the district court had erred in finding that the prosecutorial misconduct issue raised in the habeas corpus petition could not be reviewed.2 The district court concluded that the petitioner's motion was a successive petition for habeas corpus relief that was precluded by 28 United States Code section 2444(b)(2). A divided panel of the Sixth Circuit affirmed. See Abdur'Rahman v. Bell, No. 98-6568/6569, 01-6504 (6th Cir., Jan. 18, 2002).
The United States Supreme Court initially granted the petitioner's petition for certiorari, Abdur'Rahman v. Bell, 535 U.S. 981, 122 S.Ct. 1463, 152 L.Ed.2d 461 (2002), but then dismissed the appeal as improvidently granted. Abdur'Rahman v. Bell, 537 U.S. 88, 123 S.Ct. 594, 154 L.Ed.2d 501 (2002) (Stevens, J., dissenting). Thereafter, a majority of the Sixth Circuit, hearing the matter en banc, held that the petitioner had filed a proper motion for relief from the judgment in the district court under Rule 60(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and that the motion was not a second or successive habeas corpus petition. Abdur'Rahman v. Bell, 392 F.3d 174 (6th Cir.2004) (en banc). Although the majority remanded the case to the district court, the United States Supreme Court again intervened, this time granting the State's petition for writ of certiorari and remanding the case to the Sixth Circuit for further consideration of the petitioner's motion under Gonzalez v. Crosby, ___ U.S. ___, 125 S.Ct. 2641, 162 L.Ed.2d 480 (2005). In Gonzalez, the Supreme Court held that a motion under Rule 60(b)(6) is not to be treated as a successive habeas petition if it does not assert, or reassert, claims of error in the movant's state conviction. Id. As a result of the foregoing, the petitioner's habeas corpus proceeding has remained pending in the federal court system for nearly ten years after he filed his petition.
On April 3, 2002, while federal habeas corpus proceedings were ongoing, the petitioner asked the Commissioner of Correction in Tennessee to issue a declaratory order regarding the "constitutionality, legality, and applicability" of the Tennessee Department of Correction's lethal injection protocol.3 The Commissioner denied the request on May 28, 2002.
Thereafter, on July 26, 2002, the petitioner filed the present action challenging the Department of Correction's lethal injection protocol in the Chancery Court for Davidson County under the Administrative Procedures Act. See Tenn.Code Ann. § 4-5-225 (1998). The petitioner alleged that the lethal injection protocol, which involves the use of sodium pentothal, pancuronium bromide ("Pavulon"), and potassium chloride, violated the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, see Tenn.Code Ann. § 4-5-101 et seq. (1998 & Supp.2004); violated the Open Meetings Act, see Tenn.Code Ann. § 8-44-104 (2002); is contrary to the Nonlivestock Animal Humane Death Act, see Tenn.Code Ann. § 44-17-301 (2004); requires the unlicensed practice of medicine; violates public policy in Tennessee; is cruel and unusual punishment under the United States and Tennessee constitutions; and violates due process under the United States and Tennessee constitutions. The State moved to dismiss the non-constitutional allegations for failure to state claims upon which relief could be granted. See Tenn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(6).
After granting the State's motion to dismiss the non-constitutional claims, the Chancellor held an evidentiary hearing on the constitutional claims. The evidence presented at the hearing by the petitioner and the State of Tennessee is summarized below.
Ricky Bell, the Warden of the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution where death row inmates are housed, was called to testify by both the petitioner and the State. He testified that in June of 1998, shortly after the legislature enacted lethal injection as a means of execution,4 the Commissioner of the Department of Correction appointed a committee to establish a lethal injection protocol. The committee consisted of Department of Correction officials but no physicians or medical personnel. The committee met four times...
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