About the Case
The Clinic, on behalf of Advance Local Media, the Montgomery Advertiser, and the Associated Press, won an Eleventh Circuit victory requiring the release of a redacted version of Alabama’s lethal injection protocol.
The Clinic filed its lawsuit after Alabama submitted a copy of the protocol to the district court as part of a condemned prisoner’s Eighth Amendment challenge to his execution. The Clinic argued that the document was a judicial record, and should be released to the public. The district court agreed, and when the Alabama appealed to the Eleventh Circuit a unanimous appellate court panel affirmed the lower court’s decision.
MFIA student Catherine Martinez successfully defended the district court opinion in argument before the Eleventh Circuit. The case is now back in district court, where the state will be required to submit a redacted version of the protocol that will then be released by the court.
Read more in USA Today here and the Associated Press here and here for more details on this case.