lN THE SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE
AT NASHVILLE
F|LED
10/08/2018
C|erk of the
Appellate Courts
October 3, 2018 Session
ABU~ALI ABDUR’RAHMAN ET AL. v. 'I`ONY PARKER ET AL.
Appeal from the Chaneery Court for I)avidson County
No. 18~183-!11 Ellen H. Lyle, Chancellor
No. M2018-01t385~SC-RDO~CV
SI»l/\RON G. LEE, J}, dissenting
The Petitioners, who have been sentenced to death, contend that the State’s
recently adopted lethal injection protocol violates their federal and state constitutional
rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment On this important issue, the
Petitioners are entitled to a l:"air and meaningful opportunity to be heard at trial and on
appeal without regard to l) the constitutionality of other lethal injection protocols the
State has no plans to use; 2) the execution dates previously set by this Court for
Petitioners Billy Ray lricl< (already executed), Edmund Zagorksi, and David Earl l\/liller;l
and 3) the length of the Petitioners’ briefs or the extra minutes granted i`or oral argument
The constitutionality ot` the State’s current lethal injection protocol is a
complicated issue, involving extensive expert testimony Several i`actors, over Which the
Petitioners had little or no control, combined to deprive them of a fundamentally fair
process One significant factor is the Court’s unfortunate rush to execute based on the
perceived need to end this case before the executions ot` Petitioners lrick, Zagorsl