Georgia Death Row Inmate Can Pursue Lethal Injection Challenge

A Georgia man sentenced death for malice murder can move forward with his Eighth Amendment lawsuit to stop the state from using lethal injection to end his life, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit said.

Michael Wade Nance, who has asked to be executed by firing squad as an alternative to lethal injection, plausibly claimed that his use of the drug gabapentin reduced his brain’s receptiveness to sedatives, such that he would suffer severe pain in if executed by lethal injection, the court said.

The Commissioner of Georgia’s Department of Corrections argued that the state has a ...