In the predawn hours of October 23, a team of Hogan Lovells attorneys gathered in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office to await the outcome of their latest push to stave off the execution of convicted mass murderer John Errol Ferguson.
With Ferguson set to die by lethal injection in the bowels of a Florida prison at 6 p.m., the lawyers had prepared a dizzying array of filings and appeals that they hoped would spare the life of their longtime pro bono client. And though several of their strategies had already failed by the time the clock ticked past the scheduled execution time, the warden had paused the proceedings as the night wore on. At 11 p.m., 19 hours after they started their day, the phone rang one more time.
The call was from the U.S. Supreme Court, which was weighing the same argument the Ferguson team has made since taking the case in 1987: that the Eighth Amendment’s cruel and unusual punishment clause made it unconstitutional to execute their mentally ill client.
