Emergency application · Capital case
New evidence before execution
Michael Bell v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections
What did the Court do?
The Court denied the request on July 15, 2025 and refused to halt the execution.
Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case. Justice Sotomayor and Justice Kagan would have ruled the other way.
What's being asked
Michael Bell, a Florida death-row prisoner, asked the Court to pause his execution while it considered whether to hear his appeal. He says two witnesses from his 1995 murder trial have since sworn they were pressured to testify falsely. He also challenges the short time and process he had to investigate their statements.
What the Court did
The Court refused to pause Bell’s execution and denied his request for a stay (a temporary pause). It also refused to hear his case (denied his petition for a writ of certiorari, a request for Supreme Court review). The Court gave no reasons or full vote; Justices Sotomayor and Kagan would have approved both requests.
- Dissented
- Vote not published
What it means
The Court’s emergency ruling addresses only a temporary pause, not whether Bell’s claims about the witnesses are true. The Eleventh Circuit ruling remains in place; no separate case on the main legal questions is listed, and no argument was set.
Sources
Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 25A57. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.