Case Summaries: Fourth Circuit of Appeals (August 2022)

This post summarizes criminal and related decisions published by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals during August 2022. Cases of interest to state practitioners are summarized monthly. Previous Fourth Circuit case summaries are available here. Post-conviction non-profit lacked standing to assert First Amendment challenge to South Carolina’s law surrounding disclosure of execution protocols Justice 360 v. Stirling, 42 F.4th 450 (Aug. 3, 2022). In this case from the District of South Carolina, the plaintiff is an organization providing post-conviction assistance to state death-row prisoners. It filed a complaint against the director of the state department of corrections seeking a declaration that state law prohibiting disclosure of certain execution protocol information violates the First Amendment. Under the state law, protected information includes the identity of members of an execution team, which has been interpreted by the state Attorney General to include information concerning individuals or organizations involved in the preparation of chemicals used for execution. The plaintiff sought information about the death protocols of several inmates with upcoming executions, including the any person or organization supplying or preparing any drugs used in the lethal injection process, the chain of custody for those drugs, the job titles and job descriptions of execution team members or contractors, and certain details of the electric chair protocols. The Attorney General responded in part by noting that state law prohibited the disclosure of much of the information sought. The plaintiff then brought suit, alleging a First Amendment violation. The federal district court dismissed for failure to state [...]