Davis v. State
Annotate this CaseAppellant, a prisoner under a sentence of death for whom a death warrant had been signed, filed a successive motion for postconviction relief raising an as-applied challenge to Florida’s lethal injection protocol based on his allegation that he suffers from the medical condition porphyria. The circuit court denied Appellant’s claim without an evidentiary hearing. Appellant appealed and produced an affidavit by a physician stating that, in the physician’s expert medical opinion, a substantial risk existed that the use of midazolam hydrochloride as the first drug of Florida’s lethal injection protocol would cause Appellant “extreme or excruciating pain.” In light of these allegations, the Supreme Court relinquished jurisdiction to the circuit court. After a hearing, the circuit court denied Appellant’s claim. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Appellant failed to demonstrate that Florida’s lethal injection protocol, as applied to him, violated the Eighth Amendment because he did not show that allegedly suffering from porphyria creates a “substantial risk of serious harm” upon the injection of midazolam.
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