Sutton v. Parker
| Decision Date | 05 September 2019 |
| Docket Number | NO. 3:19-cv-00005,3:19-cv-00005 |
| Parties | NICHOLAS TODD SUTTON, Plaintiff, v. TONY PARKER, et al., Defendants |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee |
CAPITAL CASE
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Nicholas Todd Sutton, an inmate on death row in Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, brings this action for injunctive relief challenging the method of his upcoming execution pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Defendants Tony Parker, the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC), and Tony Mays, Warden of Riverbend, move under Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to dismiss the amended complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. (Doc. No. 12.) For the following reasons, Defendants' motion will be granted, and this action will be dismissed in its entirety.
For purposes of a motion to dismiss, the Court must take all of the factual allegations in the complaint as true. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face. Id. A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged. Id. Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice. Id. When there are well-pleaded factual allegations, a court should assume their veracity and then determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief. Id. at 1950. A legal conclusion, including one couched as a factual allegation, need not be accepted as true on a motion to dismiss, nor are mere recitations of the elements of a cause of action sufficient. Id.; Fritz v. Charter Township of Comstock, 592 F.3d 718, 722 (6th Cir. 2010), cited in Abriq v. Hall, 295 F. Supp. 3d 874, 877 (M.D. Tenn. 2018). Moreover, factual allegations that are merely consistent with the defendant's liability do not satisfy the claimant's burden, as mere consistency does not establish plausibility of entitlement to relief even if it supports the possibility of relief. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678.
In determining whether a complaint is sufficient under the standards of Iqbal and its predecessor and complementary case, Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), it may be appropriate to "begin [the] analysis by identifying the allegations in the complaint that are not entitled to the assumption of truth." Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 680. This can be crucial, as no such allegations count toward the plaintiff's goal of reaching plausibility of relief. To reiterate, such allegations include "bare assertions," formulaic recitation of the elements, and "conclusory" or "bold" allegations. Id. at 681. The question is whether the remaining allegations - factual allegations, i.e., allegations of factual matter - plausibly suggest an entitlement to relief. Id. If not, the pleading fails to meet the standard of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8 and thus must be dismissed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6). Id. at 683.
As a general rule, "matters outside the pleadings may not be considered in ruling on a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss unless the motion is converted to one for summary judgment under [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure] 56." Weiner v. Klais & Co., 108 F.3d 86, 88 (6th Cir. 1997). The term "pleadings" encompasses both the complaint and the answer, Fed. R. Civ. P. 7(a), and any exhibit thereto. Fed. R. Civ. P. 10(c). However, the Court of Appeals has held that"[d]ocuments attached to a motion to dismiss are considered part of the pleadings if they are referred to in the plaintiff's complaint and are central to the plaintiff's claim." Jackson v. City of Columbus, 194 F.3d 737, 745 (6th Cir. 1999), abrogated on other grounds by Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N.A., 534 U.S. 506 (2002); see also Commercial Money Ctr., Inc. v. Ill. Union Ins. Co., 508 F.3d 327, 335 (6th Cir. 2007) (); Wyser-Pratte Mgmt. Co., Inc. v. Telxon Corp., 413 F.3d 553, 560 (6th Cir. 2005) ().
Plaintiff sues under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to vindicate alleged violations of his federal constitutional rights. Section 1983 confers a private federal right of action against any person who, acting under color of state law, deprives an individual of any right, privilege or immunity secured by the Constitution or federal laws. Wurzelbacher v. Jones-Kelley, 675 F.3d 580, 583 (6th Cir. 2012). Thus, to state a § 1983 claim, a plaintiff must allege two elements: (1) a deprivation of rights secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States, and (2) that "the deprivation was caused by a person acting under color of state law." Tahfs v. Proctor, 316 F. 3d 584, 590 (6th Cir. 2003) (citations omitted); 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
In 1985, when Plaintiff committed the murder for which he was convicted and sentenced to death, see State v. Sutton, 761 S.W.2d 763, 764 (Tenn. 1988), Tennessee law provided, as it had since at least 1932, that inmates sentenced to death would be executed by means of electrocution:
Whenever any person is sentenced to the punishment of death, the court shall direct that the person be put to death by electrocution, and that the body be subjected to shock by a sufficient current of electricity until dead.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-23-114 (1982). In keeping with this law, at the conclusion of Plaintiff's sentencing hearing, the trial judge announced that "[i]n accordance with the finding of the jury that the punishment for the defendant, Nicholas Todd Sutton, shall be death, the Court sentences you, Nicholas Todd Sutton, to be put to death by electrocution." (Doc. No. 11-46 at 2-3.)1
The Court recently described in detail the intervening changes to Tennessee law regarding methods of execution. West v. Parker, No. 3:19-CV-00006, 2019 WL 2341406, at *2-4 (M.D. Tenn. June 3, 2019) (Crenshaw, C.J.), aff'd, No. 19-5585, 2019 WL 3564476 (6th Cir. Aug. 6, 2019). Under current law, the presumptive method of execution is lethal injection, but inmates condemned for crimes they committed before January 1, 1999, can choose to be electrocuted instead by signing a written waiver. Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-23-114(a) and (b). Electrocution is also the default method of execution if lethal injection is declared unconstitutional or the TDOC Commissioner certifies that lethal injection drugs are unavailable. § 40-23-114(e). And finally, state law provides that if the method to be used is declared unconstitutional, an execution shall be carried out "by any constitutional method of execution." § 40-23-114(c).
The background this Court recently recited of the TDOC's lethal injection protocols and litigation over those protocols applies equally to Plaintiff, as he was consistently part of the group of death row inmates involved in the relevant state-court litigation. Specifically, he shared counsel with Stephen Michael West, and all arguments and motions made on West's behalf in state court were made on Plaintiff's behalf as well. Accordingly, the Court adopts the background previously set forth:
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