Michael Wade Nance v. Commissioner, Georgia Department of Corrections, et al., No. 20-11393 (11th Cir. 2023)
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On remand from the Supreme Court, the Eleventh Circuit heard a case arising from a Georgia prisoner’s objection based on his medical conditions to his prescribed method of execution. The district court dismissed the action as untimely and for failure to state a claim.
The Eleventh Circuit held that the action is timely because the prisoner raised an as-applied challenge, so the limitations period commenced only when the claim became or should have become apparent to a person with a reasonably prudent regard for his rights. The court further held that the prisoner stated a plausible Eighth Amendment claim when he alleged that the medication gabapentin had reduced his brain’s receptiveness to sedatives. But the court held that the prisoner failed to state a claim when he alleged that the lethal drugs cannot be injected into his veins according to standard protocols because he failed to plausibly allege that one alternative injection procedure could not constitutionally be performed. Accordingly, the Eleventh Circuit reversed in part and affirmed in part.
This opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on December 2, 2020.
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