James Duckett, et al. v. Ron Desantis, Governor of Florida, et al.

On not one occasion in the last 25 years have two executions been successfully carried out on the same day in the same jurisdiction without error or pain. In other words, there is a history of gratuitous superadded pain in 100% of the prior double executions. Florida, who has executed 29 men in the last 19 months—an unprecedented pace in the state in the modern death penalty—has now scheduled the executions of Mr. Duckett and Mr. Occhicone just six hours apart. The trauma and fatigue that multiple executions induce in prison staff is a potent risk factor, and, in practice, as the evidence shows, causes staff to be incapable of complying with the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel punishments as to at least one of the scheduled executions. Therefore, the question presented is Given the presence of harm in all prior double executions in the last 25 years, have Mr. Duckett and Mr. Occhicone shown that Florida’s proposed “method presents a risk that is sure or very likely to cause . . . needless suffering[.]” Glossip v. Gross, 576 U.S. 863, 877 (2015)(citing Baze v. Rees, 553 U.S. 35, 50 (2008)).