Whether the successful media campaign and referendum culminating in affirmance of Mr. Torres' death sentences qualify as cruel-and-unusual-punishment

QUESTIONS PRESENTED The Nebraska Legislature passed Legislative Bill 268 (“LB 268”), which reformed Nebraska’s death penalty law by modifying then existing death sentences to life imprisonment. Nebraska’s death row is small and LB268 affected around ten inmates. The governor vetoed the bill. The legislature overrode the veto. The governor and death penalty supporters next initiated a referendum to garner support for rejecting LB 268 by public vote of the citizens. Supporters of the death penalty engaged in a months’ long media campaign attacking each death row inmate, including Marco Torres. The media campaign identified each inmate by name and photo and described the crimes they had been convicted of in emotional, sometimes graphic, detail. The campaign to bring back the death penalty and ensure each inmate faced execution was successful. By public vote, the death penalty was affirmed for each death row inmate. These events are unprecedented in the modern era of the death penalty. The following questions are presented: I. Whether the successful media campaign and referendum culminating in affirmance of Mr. Torres’ death sentences qualify as cruel and unusual punishment under the United States constitution; Il. Whether Mr. Torres’ execution under the unprecedented circumstances violates the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution; 1 Til. Whether the referendum is an unconstitutional bill of attainder, where the referendum proceedings specifically cited named individuals who would not be properly punished if the new law was not repealed; and IV. Whether the referendum process which resulted in repeal of LB 268 and re-imposition of the death penalty denies Mr. Torres Due Process and Equal Protection of the Laws. 2