UPDATE: The U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of exe­cu­tion, pend­ing the out­come of a review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. The Court fur­ther not­ed: ​“We leave for fur­ther con­sid­er­a­tion in the low­er courts whether an evi­den­tiary hear­ing is necessary.”

Earlier: On May 20, just hours before a sched­uled exe­cu­tion in Missouri, the U.S. Supreme Court, act­ing through Justice Samuel Alito, grant­ed a tem­po­rary stay to Russell Bucklew. Bucklew has a con­gen­i­tal med­ical con­di­tion that impedes his breath­ing and presents a grave risk of a very painful death by lethal injec­tion. He was to be exe­cut­ed at mid­night on May 21, but a three-judge pan­el of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued a stay on the evening of May 20, say­ing his ​“unre­butted med­ical evi­dence demon­strates the req­ui­site suf­fi­cient like­li­hood of unnec­es­sary pain and suf­fer­ing beyond the con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly per­mis­si­ble amount inher­ent in all exe­cu­tions.” That stay was lift­ed by the full 8th Circuit, but rein­stat­ed by the Supreme Court without comment.

Bucklew’s attor­ney, Cheryl Pilate, said, ​“The state does not have the right to inflict extreme, tor­tur­ous pain dur­ing an exe­cu­tion. We still hope that Mr. Bucklew’s grave med­ical con­di­tion and com­pro­mised air­way will per­suade the gov­er­nor or a court to step back from this extreme­ly risky exe­cu­tion.” It is like­ly that the Supreme Court will issue a fur­ther order today (May 21) pri­or to the expi­ra­tion of the death war­rant at midnight.

(J. Salter and J. Suhr, ​“Missouri inmate’s hope rests with the Supreme Court,” Associated Press, May 21, 2014). See Lethal Injection and Supreme Court.

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