Split Sixth Circuit denies en banc review of Ohio lethal injection litigation

Three months ago, as noted here, a split Sixth Circuit panel in Cooey v. Taft declared that an Ohio inmate’s lethal injection lawsuit was time-barred. As detailed in this order, the full Sixth Circuit in a split vote denied rehearing en banc in Cooey.  The brief dissent from the order is authored by Judge Gilman, and it concludes with this sentence: “I believe that en banc review would have been appropriate in the present case to ensure that the law in this Circuit conforms with Supreme Court precedent and to prevent the judicial inefficiency of juggling repetitive, simultaneous, and contradictory litigation from death-sentenced prisoners.”

I cannot quite be sure of the vote line-up in this en banc denial, but Ohio’s lethal injection litigation appears to provide another example of the circuit voting patterns in capital cases documented recently by the Cincinnati Enquirer.  I assume a cert petition will follow next, though there might be some execution dates set in the meantime. 

As always, the Ohio Death Penalty Information blog is the place to check out first for anyone following any and all Ohio capital developments.