On February 2, 2004, a prisoner at the California State Prison at San Quentin filed a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 against the California Department of Corrections in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiff, who was scheduled to be executed by lethal ...
read more >
On February 2, 2004, a prisoner at the California State Prison at San Quentin filed a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 against the California Department of Corrections in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiff, who was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection, asked the court to enjoin the defendants from carrying out the execution, arguing that the lethal injection procedure inflicts unnecessary pain and torture in violation of his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
On February 6, 2004, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Judge Jeremy Fogel) denied the plaintiff's request for an injunction, holding that the lawsuit had been brought for the sole purpose of unnecessarily delaying the execution. Cooper v. Rimmer, No. 04-436, 2004 WL 231325 (N.D.Cal. 2004). The plaintiff appealed.
On April 23, 2004, the defendants asked the District Court to dismiss the case because the plaintiff failed to exhaust his administrative remedies before bringing the lawsuit. On October 14, 2004, the District Court (Judge Fogel) granted the defendants' request and dismissed the case without prejudice.
On August 11, 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment and closed the case. Our docket, which is accurate as of August 27, 2007, records no further activity in this case and labels it closed.
Kristen Sagar - 08/27/2007
compress summary
