BREAKING: Florida Supreme Court denies Owen's appeal one day after briefing closed.
In a decision this afternoon, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the Bradford County trial court's determination Owen is sane to be executed.
Duane Owen’s execution is scheduled for June 15, 2023. Over the past few weeks, litigation has proceeded regarding whether Owen is sane to be executed.
Friday afternoon, the Florida Supreme Court issued an opinion affirming the Bradford County trial court's determination Owen is sane to be executed.
The opinion comes just one day after briefing closed, with Owen filing his Reply Brief yesterday just before the noon deadline. (That brief is covered and available here.)
Here’s the crux of the Court’s conclusion:
As to what is required to prove insanity for execution, the Court wrote:
To be ineligible for execution under the Eighth Amendment, a prisoner’s mental state must be “so distorted by a mental illness that he lacks a rational understanding of the State’s rationale for his execution.” In other words, sanity for execution depends on whether a “prisoner’s concept of reality” prevents him from grasping “the link between his crime and the punishment.” “What matters is whether a person has the ‘rational understanding’ ” of why the State seeks to execute him, “not whether he has any particular memory or any particular mental illness.”
(Citations omitted.)
The Court also denied Owen’s claim that the Bradford County court abused its discretion in denying his motion for continuance based on Dr. Sultan and Dr. Berlin being unavailable to testify at the evidentiary hearing, saying “[t]he circuit court acted reasonably in light of the undisputed facts of record.”
The decision was unanimous, with Justice Labarga recused.
As noted yesterday, from what I can tell, this is the fastest a Rule 3.811 claim has been resolved.
Prior TFDP coverage of Owen’s case
The background of Owen’s case can be found here.
Background on the statutory process and the proceedings in Palm Beach County is available here.
The history of Rule 3.811 is here.
The Governor’s Executive Order temporarily staying the execution to allow for the Commission’s examination of Owen is covered here.
The Governor’s determination after the Commission’s report is covered here.
The four-part series on the history of Owen’s mental illness can be found here:
The transcript from the Bradford County’s case management conference on May 26 is summarized here.
An update on the pending litigation related to Owen’s execution as of May 31, 2023, is here.
Owen’s Motion seeking review of the Governor’s determination and the evidence attached to the Motion is covered here.
The first day of testimony in Bradford County is covered here.
The second day of testimony in Bradford County is covered here.
The Bradford County trial court’s ruling is covered here.
The Florida Supreme Court’s decision on Owen’s appeal of the Palm Beach County court’s orders is covered here.
Litigation update as of June 6, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. is here.
Litigation update as of June 7, 2023, at 8:00 a.m. is here.
The State’s Answer Brief and Owen’s Reply Brief are covered here.
My thoughts are with everyone involved in the warrant and execution process.