Elledge v. Florida

Background

A man sentenced to death in Florida has spent more than 23 years under sentence of death. Much of that time came from appeals: three successful appeals account for 18 of those years, and a fourth appeal added about five years and left the Florida Supreme Court divided 4-2 (706 So. 2d 1340 (1997)). The Supreme Court denied review of the case, so it did not decide the underlying constitutional question.

Reasoning

The Court’s action was simply to deny review; it did not rule on whether long delays before execution violate the Constitution. Justice Breyer dissented from the denial and argued the question is important: he said the Eighth Amendment forbids cruel and unusual punishment and that a 23-year delay is unusually long by both current practice and historical practice in the United States and England. Breyer noted much of the delay resulted from the State’s procedures rather than frivolous appeals, argued such long delays may stop an execution from serving its punishment purposes, and cited other authorities and cases (including Lackey and Soering) to show broader legal and practical concerns.

Real world impact

Because the Court refused to take the case, the inmate’s sentence remains in place for now and the Supreme Court has not settled whether very long delays bar execution. The international and extradition problems Breyer described may persist, since foreign courts have sometimes refused to extradite where execution delays are lengthy. This denial is not a final ruling on the constitutional question and could be revisited in the future.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Breyer would have granted review to answer whether decades-long delays make execution unconstitutional and to resolve the practical and international consequences he described.