Lee v. Hutchinson, No. 17-1822 (8th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CaseFour Arkansas death-row inmates appealed the denial of their motions for a preliminary injunction prohibiting their executions and moved the court for a stay of execution. The court concluded that, to the extent the inmates argued that Arkansas law, regulations, and policy during the clemency process violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, this argument failed under well-established law; even if the inmates are correct that the Board failed to comply with Arkansas law, regulations, and policy, this in and of itself is insufficient to demonstrate a significant possibility of success on the merits; the district court was correct in determining that, despite the procedural shortcomings in the clemency process, the inmates received the minimal due process guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment; and the court rejected the inmates' claim that the district court abused its discretion in determining that their procedural impossibility claim "evaporated" at the moment the Board recommended against granting clemency. Accordingly, because the inmates have failed to show a significant possibility of success on the merits, the court denied the motion for a stay.
Court Description: Per Curiam. Before, Wollman, Loken, Riley, Colloton, Gruender, Benton, Shepherd, and Kelly, Circuit Judges, sitting en banc. [Death Penalty - Civil Rights] Four Arkansas death-row inmates appeal the denial of their motions for a preliminary injunction and motion for stay of execution, challenging the schedule of executions as a violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights and challenging as a violation of their due process rights the impact on their clemency rights. Concluding the inmates have not shown a significant possibility of success on the merits, the motion for stay is denied. Judge Kelly dissents. [ April 19, 2017
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