Bucklew v. Precythe

Russell Bucklew, a Missouri death-row inmate with a unique medical condition, said the state's lethal injection protocol would cause him severe pain. The Supreme Court decided he did not meet his burden under Glossip because he failed to prove a feasible alternative method of execution that would significantly reduce that risk.

The Court ruled against Bucklew after hearing argument on November 6, 2018, but the prompt does not provide the vote count or opinion lineup.

The decision makes it harder for prisoners challenging an execution method to win without proposing a workable alternative. That directly affects inmates with unusual medical conditions who say a state's standard method would cause extreme pain.

The Supreme Court has finished this case. The lower-court result remains in place, and Missouri's protocol was not blocked on the record described here.

Bucklew argued Missouri's lethal injection protocol would cause him severe pain because of his medical condition. The Court said he did not prove a feasible alternative.

Prisoners challenging an execution method must identify a workable substitute that would significantly reduce pain. That burden can be especially important for inmates with rare health conditions.

The Supreme Court's review ended with this decision. The Eighth Circuit's result stayed in place, absent any separate proceedings not described here.