Smith v. Snow

Summary

The Eleventh Circuit considered a death-row inmate's request for an injunction pending appeal based on alleged arbitrary and capricious denial of clemency by the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles. Relying on Connecticut Board of Pardons v. Dumschat, the court held that Georgia's discretionary clemency process created no due process right to particular procedures or relief and did not violate the Eighth Amendment. The court denied the motion for an injunction pending appeal and affirmed the district court's denial of injunctive relief.

Holdings

1. Because Georgia vested the Board of Pardons and Paroles with completely discretionary authority to commute penalties, the clemency process conferred no constitutional right to procedures designed to prevent arbitrariness or curb discretion; Smith therefore had little or no likelihood of success on his Fourteenth Amendment due process claim.
2. The failure of Smith's Eighth Amendment claim followed from the absence of a procedural due process right in clemency proceedings; the unfettered discretion at the clemency stage did not render the legally imposed death sentence arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
3. Smith was not entitled to an injunction pending appeal because he showed little or no likelihood of success on the merits, and the court affirmed the district court's denial of injunctive relief.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Smith was likely to succeed on his claim that the Board's discretionary clemency process violated procedural due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.
2. Whether the allegedly arbitrary and capricious clemency process violated the Eighth Amendment.
3. Whether Smith was entitled to an injunction pending appeal staying his scheduled execution.

Disposition

affirmed