PRESS RELEASE

SUPREME COURT ALLOWS REVIEW OF MURDERER'S UNUSUAL CLAIM

“While granting this defendant’s request for review, the Court went out of its way to stress that this decision is based on a very unusual set of circumstances. Civil rights lawsuits still cannot be used as a way to get around the limits Congress has put on last-minute attacks on death sentences,” said Kent Scheidegger, Legal Director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.

In a unanimous decision released today, the Supreme Court has allowed review of a condemned murderer’s claim that, because his veins have been damaged by years of injecting drugs, a procedure needed to carry out his execution by lethal injection may violate his civil rights. The Court’s narrow holding in Nelson v. Campbell made it clear that its decision does not support last-minute challenges to a state’s method of execution. Writing for the majority, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor states, “there is a strong equitable presumption against the grant of a stay where a claim could have been brought at such a time as to allow consideration of the merits without requiring entry of a stay.”

“While granting this defendant’s request for review, the Court went out of its way to stress that this decision is based on a very unusual set of circumstances. Civil rights lawsuits still cannot be used as a way to get around the limits Congress has put on last-minute attacks on death sentences,” said Kent Scheidegger, Legal Director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.

Court records present the following facts in the case of Nelson v. Campbell. In 1977, Nelson was released from an Alabama state prison after serving six years of a twelve-year sentence for second-degree murder. On December 31 of that year, Nelson and his girlfriend Linda Vice met a cab driver in a Birmingham bar who agreed to drive them to a New Year’s Eve party. Once in the cab, Nelson pulled a pistol and ordered the cab driver to hand over his money and watch. When the man tried to grab the gun, Nelson shot him in the head and chest, killing him.

Nelson and Vice then went to another bar and met Wilson Thompson. He introduced Vice as his sister and told Thompson that they had no way home. Thompson agreed to drive the couple to his mobile home for an “orgy.” After they arrived, Nelson ordered Vice to undress and have sex with Thompson. As Thompson began to engage Vice, Nelson shot him in the back of the neck, killing him. The bullet passed through Thompson and also struck Vice in the leg. When she screamed, Nelson shot her two more times. After ransacking the mobile home, Nelson returned to the bedroom and, discovering that Vice was still alive, demanded that she perform a sex act with him. When she refused, Nelson threw a blanket over her head and walked out. She survived and testified at the trial.

Nelson was subsequently arrested in Tennessee, driving Thompson’s car with his personal belongings. The .38 caliber pistol in his possession was matched to the crime. Before Nelson was tried for the Thompson murder, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for murdering the cab driver. He received a death sentence following his conviction for the murder of Thompson.

In 2003, shortly before the date was set for his execution by lethal injection, Nelson’s attorney wrote the warden to express concerns about the poor condition of Nelson’s veins due to years of injecting illegal drugs. After an examination, the state doctor determined that it might be necessary to use a vein in Nelson’s leg or, as a last resort, locate a vein surgically. Three days before his execution, Nelson challenged the “cut down” procedure with a civil rights lawsuit in the federal district court, claiming that the procedure would violate his Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The court dismissed the claim as improperly presented, as did the federal appeals court three days later. On the date of his execution, Nelson filed petitions with the Alabama Supreme Court claiming his execution violated the Alabama Constitution, and with the United States Supreme Court seeking a stay to allow review of his federal constitutional claim. The Alabama court denied the claim, but the United States Supreme Court granted the stay.

The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation joined the Supreme Court’s review of this case at the request of the Alabama Attorney General. The Foundation argued to prevent a decision which would find that civil rights lawsuits were appropriate for attacking death sentences.

In today’s decision, the Court reiterated its holding in the notorious 1992 case of Robert Alton Harris. In that case, Harris’s lawyers deliberately withheld, until the eve of execution, a general challenge to the state’s method of execution by lethal gas. The Supreme Court vacated two stays issued by lower courts and forbade any further stays from federal courts. More recently, the high court has vacated stays issued in challenges to lethal injection generally. “The Harris case is still good law,” said CJLF’s Scheidegger. “The Nelson case does not open the door to last-minute challenges to the state’s general method of execution.”

CJLF Legal Director Kent Scheidegger is available for comment at (916) 446-0345.