Cooey v. Strickland’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 1 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[TJhere is no evidentiary basis for concluding that those parts of the written protocol related to the preparation for administering and the actual administration of drugs would be disregarded. Collins, for example, testified that a warden asked him for permission to deviate from the written execution policy regarding when an inmate’s visitors would be allowed access to the condemned. Collins granted the warden permission to deviate from the written protocol and the warden did so, permitting late-arriving individuals time with an inmate despite their having arrived at SOCF technically too late for visitation. This is a laudable deviation viewed from the standpoint of simple humanity. It also suggests that despite testimony that the written protocol stands as the law, deviation at the election of the state actors involved in the system is possible. The next obvious question is how far this deviation extends. Could, for example, the warden request and the director approve deviation from the written policy of using sodium thiopental? Such an irrational deviation is unlikely but theoretically possible if the scope of the ability to depart from the written policies and procedures is truly unlimited. This illustrative deviation would naturally be problematic from a constitutional standpoint, but there is no basis on this record for concluding by inference or otherwise that such deviations from the core execution procedures is likely or even possible. Moreover, concluding that devia”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Cooey v. Kasich

2. “Ohio has a system of redundancies in place in which no actor is left alone without observation. One medical team member mixes the drugs while watched by at least one additional state actor. Two medical team members are present in the holding cell while establishing heparin locks. The warden and the team leader together check for sufficient inmate unconsciousness and IV infiltration in the death chamber. One medical team member pushes the drugs while another medical team member is present in the equipment room, in addition to the narrator and other individuals. In short, there are specific safeguards in addition to the general observations of team members by one another and by the warden that protect against a team member underperforming in a manner that creates a likely risk of serious harm. These protections guard against one unchecked individual deviating from permissible procedures as a result of medical issues. And although the protections may not be foolproof, none could be; there is always the risk of human error whether caused by inadvertence, misfeasance, or medical issues. What is important is that the risk is acceptably mitigated here so as to not rise to a constitutionally impermissible level.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Cooey v. Kasich

3. “Voorhies also testified on redirect examination that it was his understanding that the SOCF warden tasked with supervising executions was required to follow Ohio’s written protocol. Voorhies agreed that the warden would not be required to “follow” anything that was not expressly written in the protocol. Voorhies testified that it was his understanding that Ohio law provided “wide latitude” to the SOCF warden (with respect to the matter of taking whatever steps might be necessary but not spelled out in the written protocol). Voorhies stated that he believed that the decision as to what was or was not included in the written protocol stemmed from “measured consideration” as opposed to a concern about whether inserting new written provisions had the effect of restarting a statute of limitations on legal challenges to the execution protocol.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Cooey v. Kasich