A dozen years since the last execution in Nebraska, the state is nearly ready to start carrying out death sentences after a $35,000 renovation at the state's execution chambers.
The electric chair that was used for years has been replaced by a table that will be used to help administer lethal injections.
A court ruling in 2008 declared the electric chair cruel and unusual punishment and the Nebraska Legislature approved lethal injection to replace it in 2009.
KETV NewsWatch 7 cameras were given access to the execution chambers on Wednesday for the 1st time since the renovation was completed.
Under the new system, the condemned inmate will be strapped to the table, a trained staff member will insert a needle into the inmate's veins, and another staff member from a remote room will administer a 3-drug cocktail.
The 1st drug will render the inmate unconscious. Once a staff member verifies that the inmate is no longer conscious, the 2 fatal drugs will be administered.
"Should a date be set by the court, the Department of Corrections is well-prepared to carry out its responsibility," said Department of Corrections director Bob Houston.
Officials said the updated chamber and viewing room are larger than they were before.
Prison staff have already held 5 training sessions.
"It probably takes a year or so before an execution actually occurs," said Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning.
He said he may ask the Nebraska Supreme Court to set an execution date soon.
"I think it will happen this year," he said. "It's a matter of weeks or months, not years, before we file. We understand there will be legal challenges at that point and we're prepared for those."
During debate on switching to lethal injections, opponents argued that non-medical personnel would be performing a medical procedure. There was also no assurance that the inmate didn't actually feel pain, because the 1st drug also paralyzes them.
"The test is not no pain," Bruning said. "The test is undue pain."
He said Nebraska's protocol is modeled after Kentucky's, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld.
Bruning said 12 inmates are currently on death row. He said Carey Dean Moore, who was sentenced to die 30 years ago, will likely be the first in the state to receive a lethal injection.
Source: KETV News, July 7, 2010
Inside Nebraska's Execution Chamber: A Rare Look
After the state high court rules the electric chair as cruel and unusual punishment, Nebraska has a new means of execution. The method is lethal injection.
Nebraska has not executed anybody since the 1990's. Robert Williams executed in 1997, John Joubert in 1996, and Harold "Willi" Otey in 1994. All 3 were by electric chair. Today, a first look at the state's new means of capital punishment, the needle.
We go inside the Nebraska State Pen for a rare look inside the execution chamber. A sterile room surrounded by concrete walls, at the center, an execution table. It's here where death row inmates will die by lethal injection. "The IV team does the connections, myself and the warden present in the room, the witnesses brought in, and the procedures carried out," says Nebraska State Prison Director, Robert Houston.
Within the four room chamber is the prisoners holding cell. Another space is filled with an IV table covered in ankle, wrist, and body straps. Three ports allow fluid to flow into the IVs from another room equipped with three ports. And finally, in the center, is a space for security with monitors and telephones one labeled simply "AG," meaning attorney general.
Through a glass window, up to 14 witnesses will watch the prisoners death sentence carried out. If something should go wrong, prison officials insist they'll be trained to deal with it.
The chemicals have still not arrived at the prison, but prison staff says they're ready. "Should a date be set by the courts, the department of corrections is well prepared to carry out it's responsibility."
12 men are currently on death row, all 12 are appealing their sentences.
Some facts on the cases:
Marco Torres is the 1st to be sentenced to death under the state's new lethal injection law. Torres is convicted of 2 Grand Island murders.
Roy Ellis is convicted of killing 12-year-old Amber Harris of Omaha. A panel of judges sentenced Ellis to-death last year, during the time when the state had capital punishment, but no means of carrying it out.
And, Carey Dean Moore, the longest serving inmate on Nebraska's death row, 30-years now, was sentenced to death in 1980.
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