David Santiago Renteria v. Texas
DueProcess Punishment HabeasCorpus Jurisdiction
Does a State deprive a person of life without due process of law when it delegates to its executioner unchecked discretion to ignore a state law prohibiting torture, ill treatment, or unnecessary pain, and permits him to inject prisoners with non-lethal substances in violation of a state law authorizing him to use only lethal substances in sufficient quantity to cause death?
QUESTIONS PRESENTED 1. Does a State deprive a person of life without due process of law when it delegates to its executioner unchecked discretion to ignore a state law prohibiting torture, ill treatment, or unnecessary pain, and permits him to inject prisoners with non-lethal substances in violation of a state law authorizing him to use only lethal substances in sufficient quantity to cause death? 2. Does uncontroverted evidence that an executioner is acting outside his lawful authority, or wantonly and unnecessarily, in a manner that causes terror and a risk of severe pain demonstrate that the executioner has superadded terror or pain to the execution process? i