U.S.: Five Western states shielding part of executions

BOISE, Idaho – A San Francisco-based federal appeals court ruled in 2002 that every aspect of an execution should be open to witnesses, from the moment the condemned enters into the death chamber to his final heartbeat.

The ruling established what was expected of the nine Western states within the court's jurisdiction. A decade later, five of the states have kept part of each execution away from public view, according to an Associated Press review and death penalty experts.

Idaho, Arizona, Washington, Montana and Nevada have conducted 15 lethal injections since the ruling, and half of each procedure has been behind closed doors.

That means that a small group of witnesses, including members of news organizations who act as representatives of the public, do not see, for instance, the insertion of the IVs that deliver the fatal drug mixture.

The practice comes at a time when the method itself has drawn greater scrutiny, from whether the drugs are effective to whether the execution personnel are properly trained.

The states that limit access say they do so to protect the anonymity of the execution team, which may include emergency medical technicians, military medics or others trained to insert IVs. Open government and journalism groups argue that witnessing all aspects of an execution is the only way to determine if it is being properly carried out.

The AP and 16 other organizations on Tuesday sued the state of Idaho to force officials to open the entirety of their executions, arguing that the news media and by extension the public has a First Amendment right to view all steps of lethal injections.

"This lawsuit is really all about obtaining access to the entire execution process for viewing purposes," said Chuck Brown, the attorney representing the news organizations. "It's very important in a society such as ours to have full transparency in regards to the exercise of government authority."

Idaho Department of Correction spokesman Jeff Ray said late Tuesday the department had not yet had a chance to review the lawsuit, and that the state's attorneys would respond to the claims in court.

Several high-profile cases since 2006 have raised questions about the way states conduct lethal injections.

In two instances in Ohio, one of the few states that allow witnesses to see the entire process, corrections staff couldn't find a vein. In one of those cases, officials halted the execution and the inmate remains on death row. With news organizations present, the experiences of the inmate, Romell Broom, were widely reported.

In another case, in Florida in 2006, which does not allow viewing of the IV insertions, executioners pushed the needles through Angel Nieves Diaz's target veins and into the soft tissue beneath. He had to be given a second dose and took 34 minutes to die — more than twice the normal time.

Historically, the public was able to watch executions from start to finish, said Trina Seitz, a death penalty expert at Appalachian State University.

Over time, executions became more private as technology advanced. Electrocutions, for example, can't be done in a rainy prison yard for safety reasons, so they were moved inside, said Stuart Banner, a legal historian at UCLA's School of Law.

Still, journalists have always been reserved a spot among the witnesses, Seitz said, so they could report the death back to the public.

In the 1990s, several news organizations attempted to get on the witness list for the lethal injection of William Bonin in California. Bonin was dubbed the "Freeway Killer" for the serial murders of 14 young men and boys.

Those who did witness the execution were unsure about what they saw.

Bonin was already strapped to a gurney with IV tubes attached when the death chamber's curtains were drawn open. He barely moved, and his eyes were closed. A few silent minutes passed, and then he was pronounced dead.

The California First Amendment Coalition sued, saying the limited access violated the public's first amendment rights to view executions. California officials argued the restriction was necessary to preserve the execution team's anonymity.

In 2002, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that argument, saying there were other ways to protect their identity. Execution team members could wear surgical masks, hats and gloves, the court noted.

"Independent public scrutiny — made possible by the public and media witnesses to an execution — plays a significant role in the proper functioning of capital punishment," the judges ruled.

The ruling applies to a region that stretches from Montana to Hawaii and Alaska. Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands do not have the death penalty, and Oregon currently has a moratorium on executions. Only California has followed the ruling.

Outside the region, there are 27 states that use lethal injection. Ohio changed its rules in 2004 after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue. For 25 years, Georgia has allowed a reporter to act as a "monitor" during the process, while other witnesses enter the viewing chamber later.

In Idaho, when made aware of the 2002 court ruling, state officials said the decision did not apply to their procedures. "The circumstances of the case are unique to California," said Idaho deputy attorney general for prisons, Mark Kubinski. But Kubinski, other state attorneys, the governor's office and corrections officials have refused to say exactly why.

Kubinski said the protocol balances the public's right to witness executions with the state's obligation to carry it out "in a safe and professional manner, while maintaining respect and dignity for all parties."

During Idaho's most recent execution, Paul Ezra Rhoades, who was convicted of killing three people in 1987, could not be seen as he was brought into the death chamber. When the curtains were drawn, IVs were already connected.

When asked by a reporter about what happened before the curtains were opened, the corrections director, Brent Reinke, said the procedure was somber and professional and described how the IVs and other equipment was inserted.

Rhoades' attorneys had sued in federal court, arguing that Idaho's death penalty protocol created the opportunity for several excruciating errors. Of most concern was incorrect IV placement, which could leave him paralyzed but conscious.

The legal scholars contacted by the AP who reviewed the California court case said it would be difficult to find a ruling that applies more closely to Idaho's policies.

Jen Moreno, a staff attorney with the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California's Berkeley Law, said the ruling sets precedent for all states within the 9th Circuit and that the non-complying states would likely be forced to change their policies if they were challenged in federal court.

Moreno said the process of setting the IVs is the most crucial part of lethal injection because, if it is done incorrectly, the rest of the execution can go awry.

"The fact that the states are hiding one of the most important parts of the execution, setting the IV, really means that what the public does see is not going to be very telling of whether it was a humane execution," she said.

Source: AP, May 23, 2012

AP, news groups sue Idaho over execution access

The execution scene from
"Dead Man Walking" (1995) with
Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Associated Press and 16 other organizations sued the state of Idaho on Tuesday to force officials to let witnesses watch executions from start to finish, arguing that the media has a First Amendment right to view all steps of a lethal injection execution.

The group asked a U.S. District Court judge to require the state to increase witness access to its executions, starting with the upcoming execution of Richard A. Leavitt, a convicted killer scheduled to be put to death on June 12.

The AP was joined in the lawsuit by the Idaho Press Club, Idahoans for Openness in Government, the Idaho Statesman, The Times-News, Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and The Spokesman-Review.

Also joining was Pioneer Newspapers, which owns several newspapers including the Idaho Press-Tribune, the Idaho State Journal, the Rexburg Standard Journal and others.

Idaho, like most states with lethal injection, bars witnesses from watching as a condemned inmate is brought into the execution chamber, strapped to the table and has IVs inserted into his or her arms. The news organizations say reporters must be able to view executions from start to finish so they can accurately report the events — and any complications that may emerge — to the public.

Some death row inmates have challenged the constitutionality of lethal injection executions in court, contending that the insertion of the IVs can be easily botched, causing severe pain for the condemned.

"This lawsuit is really all about obtaining access to the entire execution process for viewing purposes. It's very important in a society such as ours to have full transparency in regards to the exercise of government authority," said Chuck Brown, the attorney representing the news organizations.

The states that grant access to part of the death penalty process say they do so to protect the anonymity of the execution team. Idaho Department of Correction spokesman Jeff Ray said the department had not yet had a chance to review the lawsuit, and that the state's attorneys would respond to the claims in court.

The lawsuit relies heavily on a 2002 San Francisco-based federal appeals court ruling that found that witnesses should be allowed to view executions from the moment the condemned enters the death chamber until their final heartbeat.

Since the ruling, only one state under the court's nine-state jurisdiction is following it: California, where the case arose. Idaho, Arizona, Washington, Montana and Nevada have all barred witnesses from the first half of lethal injection executions.

Most states nationwide do the same. Of the 27 states that have lethal injection outside of the circuit's jurisdiction, only Ohio and Georgia allow witnesses to see the entire process.

The lawsuit comes at a time when questions have been raised about whether the lethal cocktail of drugs used in the procedure is effective and whether the execution staff is properly trained.

The Idaho organizations decided to sue after state officials limited access to the execution of Paul Ezra Rhoades. Put to death in November, Rhoades was the first person to be executed in the state in 17 years, and only the second in the last half-century. Media interest in the event was intense, and the department selected four journalists to view the proceedings.

But none of the witnesses were allowed to watch as Rhoades entered the death chamber, was strapped to the execution table and had IVs inserted in his arms.

That portion was of particular interest because in the weeks preceding his death, Rhoades had argued in federal court that those initial steps were the most likely to go awry. His lawyers said an improperly inserted IV could cause him extreme pain.

At the time, Idaho Department of Correction officials maintained that the first steps of the execution had to be kept private to protect the anonymity of the execution team.

The 2002 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals case was brought by the California First Amendment Coalition against California Department of Correction officials. The court found that preventing reporters — and through them, the public — from viewing all aspects of executions is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment.

The news media must be allowed to witness executions in their entirety so that the public can have an informed debate about whether execution by lethal injection meets the evolving standards of decency present in a maturing society, the court found.

"To determine whether lethal injection executions are fairly and humanely administered, or whether they ever can be, citizens must have reliable information about the 'initial procedures' which are invasive, possibly painful and may give rise to serious complications," Judge Raymond Fisher wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel that heard the case.

Source: AP, May 23, 2012

Nevada Department of Corrections lacks plan for executions due to prison closure, drug shortage

Nevada Execution Chamber

4 months after shutting down Nevada State Prison in Carson City, site of the state’s only death chamber, officials have no solid plan for carrying out executions and no access to a lethal injection drug.

As Nevada’s death row inmates continue to appeal their convictions and sentences, the Nevada Department of Corrections has continued to lose its ability to hold an execution.

Corrections officials shut down the Nevada State Prison in Carson City, site of the state’s only death chamber, early this year, and they have no solid plan in place for transporting and holding an inmate who is about to be executed, the Reno Gazette-Journal found.

In addition, 1 of the drugs used during a lethal injection has not been available for more than a year, and the state’s execution protocol has not been updated to address the drug shortage, the Gazette-Journal found.

The department plans to submit a bill draft request to the Legislature next year asking for $385,000 to build a new execution chamber at the Ely State Prison, said Steve Suwe, a department spokesman.

The Nevada Attorney General’s office sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder early in 2011 seeking help to deal with the lethal injection drug shortage, spokeswoman Jennifer Lopez said. But no resolution has been found.

“Should any executions be scheduled, we will do the best to help the Department of Corrections have the drugs necessary to carry out a lawful execution order,” Lopez said.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said the lack of a solid plan could be problematic, especially if an inmate were to suddenly stop the appeals process and ask to be killed. Eleven of the 12 inmates executed in Nevada since 1976 “volunteered” to be executed.

“When it comes time, they just can’t say, ‘Trust us,’” Dieter said of corrections officials. “They have to have a very specific protocol. Either a state or federal court would want them to produce that information. They’ll want to make sure this isn’t done in a slipshod way.”

Source: Reno Gazette-Journal, May 10, 2012

Death Penalty Cases in Nevada Cost $200K Extra, Just for Defense

A recent study of the death penalty in Nevada compared the costs of defending capital and non-capital murder cases. The study, conducted by Dr. Terance Miethe of the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, looked at the time spent by defense attorneys at various stages of a case. The study’s findings included:

- Clark County public defense attorneys spent an average of 2,298 hours on a capital murder case compared to an average of 1,087 hours on a non-capital murder case--a difference of 1,211 hours, or 112%.

- Defending the average capital murder case in Clark County cost $229,800 for a Public Defender or $287,250 for appointed counsel. The additional cost of capital murder cases was $170,000 to $212,000 per case compared to the cost of a non-capital murder case in the same county.

- The 80 pending capital murder cases in Clark County will cost approximately $15 million more than if they were prosecuted without seeking the death penalty.

- Clark County cases that resulted in a death sentence that concluded between 2009 and 2011 took an average of 1,107 days, or just over 3 years, to go from initial filing to sentencing. In contrast, cases that resulted in life without parole took an average of 887 days (2.4 years) to go from initial filing to sentencing.

- Of the 35 completed cases in Clark County from 2009 to 2011 where a Notice of Intent to seek the death penalty was filed, 69% resulted in a life sentence. Nearly half (49%) ultimately resulted in a sentence of life without parole, and the next most common disposition was a sentence of life with parole (20%). Only 5 of the 35 cases (14%) resulted in a death sentence.

The study did not include the costs of prosecution or all appelate expenses. The author noted: "It is important to note that this statistical extrapolation does not cover the full array of time spent in capital cases by other court officials (e.g. judges, prosecutors, jurors), staff and administrative personnel, mitigation specialists, investigators, and expert witnesses. It also does not take into account the additional costs of capital litigation that are associated with state/federal appeals and the extra costs of imprisonment of death eligible inmates pending trial and sentencing."

Source: Death Penalty Information Center, April 17, 2012

Serbian Government fights to prevent execution of Serbian citizen by Nevada, USA, in historic first intervention in a death penalty case

Avram Nika

The Government of Serbia has this week appealed to a US court to spare the life of one of its citizens, Avram Nika, currently facing execution in Nevada.

In a ground-breaking intervention, the first of its kind for Serbia, the Government expresses “grave doubts as to the validity of the death sentence rendered against Mr Nika”, citing multiple failures by the State of Nevada.

Serbia’s amicus curiae ('friend of the court') brief, submitted today to Nevada’s Washoe District Court, describes how Mr Nika - a marginalised Serbian Roma who couldn’t speak English - was denied translation and consular services by the Nevada authorities, rendering him unable to participate meaningfully in his trial. As a result, his defence was perfunctory, with no mitigating evidence presented, and his death sentence became a virtual certainty.

Mr Nika, who is now being assisted by Reprieve’s EC Project, was sentenced to death in 1995 for murder. The Serbian consulate was not informed of his arrest, in violation of state and international law, and was thus prevented from providing crucial assistance which could have saved Mr Nika’s life.

The amicus brief notes that Mr Nika was “particularly vulnerable to the denial of consular assistance due to his inability to speak English and his lack of familiarity with the US legal system and culture”. It explains how “the state portrayed Mr Nika as an evil foreigner... Evidence that Mr Nika…was a hard-working family man who had been…forced to work in… chemically toxic glass factories as a child due to his family’s poverty, and discriminated against due to his membership in a marginalised ethnic group, could have balanced the impact of the state’s negative characterisation of Mr Nika on the jury.”

Explaining its intervention, Serbia cites a “national commitment to human rights” in line with European norms, as well as a determination to ensure fair trials for its citizens abroad.

Reprieve investigator Katherine Bekesi said: “If the Serbian consulate had been informed of Mr Nika’s arrest, it would have provided crucial assistance, including translation, legal advice and key mitigating evidence, which could have saved Mr Nika’s life. The state of Nevada must face up to its deplorable failings in this case and order a new trial.”

1. For further information, please contact Donald Campbell at Reprieve’s Press Office on +44 (0) 20 7427 1082 / (0) 7791 755 415

2. A beloved brother and uncle, Avram Nika was born in a small rural town not far from Belgrade, on February 12th, 1970. Born into a third generation of grinding poverty, he has also experienced long-term prejudice and discrimination due to his membership of a marginalised ethinic group, the Roma.

Avram was charged with murder in 1994 and, in a flagrant breach of the Vienna Convention on Consular Rights, arresting authorities in Nevada failed to notify the Serbian consulate of Avram’s detention. His trial counsel did nothing to correct this; nor did they conduct any investigation work into his family background, education or mental health problems in Serbia.

Avram’s beloved brother Sveta, and his family, are unable to visit him because they live in Serbia. They were not told about Avram’s plight until four years after his conviction, preventing them from testifying in his defense. In the end, only two people testified on Avram’s behalf.

Avram is currently held at the notorious Ely State Prison. The ACLU brought a lawsuit against the prison after an investigative report described the conditions as being “as horrific as any we have ever seen.”

Source: Reprieve, August 12, 2011

Nevada: Governor blocks needed discussion on death penalty

The Las Vegas Sun’s reports of our “fiscally conservative” governor’s veto of a bill to study the costs of the death penalty in Nevada left me astounded.

Our legislators inquire how much a policy costs, and the governor’s response is that the state’s auditor cannot be trusted. These are audit professionals trained to objectively define a legitimate methodology. We are left to conclude that the governor believes the cost of this barbaric approach to justice does not matter.

North Carolina found it could save $11 million a year by substituting life in prison for the death penalty. Florida found it could save $51 million by eliminating the death penalty. Is Nevada different?

Might Nevada provide enhanced law enforcement or victim services with that money? With the governor’s veto, Nevadans are denied the opportunity to have that policy discussion.

Further, Gov. Brian Sandoval also said the audit doesn’t reflect the choices by individuals on death row in pursuing appeals. Is he implying that the costs of the system won’t be fairly represented so long as inmates insist on availing themselves of their constitutional rights?

As an American, I believe that government must protect individuals’ rights, especially when an execution is being contemplated. As a taxpayer, I believe government is obligated to know and disclose the cost of its programs when establishing public policy.

If we cannot afford a constitutional system, perhaps we need to explore alternatives? Again, this governor doesn’t trust Nevadans with that kind of information or discussion.

Source: Mark Nichols, June 16, 2011. The writer is president of the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

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Nevada Governor vetoes bill calling for study of death penalty costs

Gov. Brian Sandoval has vetoed a bill that called for a study of the cost of the death penalty in Nevada.

Assembly Bill 501 was sponsored by the Assembly Committee on Legislative Operations and Election and called for the legislative auditor to examine the costs of capital cases compared to non-death penalty cases.

“This bill lacks the specificity necessary to persuade me that the outcome of the audit performed will be fair,” he said in his veto message.

There hasn’t been an execution in Nevada since April 2006. Some murderers have been sitting on death row for more than 20 years due to appeals.

The bill was approved by the Assembly 28-14 and by the Senate 11-10. The vote was along party lines with Republicans opposing the study.

The study would have included pre-trial, trial and appeal costs, plus how much it costs to keep an inmate on death row at the state prison in Ely.

The governor said, “The bill, for example, lists the costs to be assessed in determining the overall fiscal impact of the imposition of the death penalty, but it does not specify how it is these costs will be assessed.”

Sandoval also said the audit doesn't reflect the choices by individuals on death row in pursuing appeals. “Thus, because the bill fails to assure me that the outcome of the audit will be reliable and fair, I veto it,” the governor said.

Source: Las Vegas Sun, June 10, 2011

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Effort is on to speed up Nevada death penalty cases

The execution chamber at Nevada State
Prison in Carson City

Reno police undercover narcotics officer Jimmy Hoff was about to make his last and biggest career drug bust before returning to patrol as a K-9 officer.

Instead, the 32-year-old was fatally stabbed June 24, 1979, during an ambush at Idlewild Park that was planned and practiced by 4 young men whose aim was to rob him of $16,000 in cocaine money.

32 years after a 3-judge panel sentenced the ringleader, Thomas Edward Wilson, to death, he remains Nevada’s longest standing death row inmate, to the dismay of Hoff’s surviving relatives and the original police investigators.

The delay is the result of appeals filed on his behalf ­— which for more than 3 decades have been denied by local, state and federal courts. Most, including an oral argument to the state high court last month, seek the same claims for relief.

Wilson pleaded guilty to Hoff’s 1st-degree murder, and his three accomplices are serving sentences of life without parole.

In Wilson’s appeal denials, judges have written there had been “overwhelming” evidence of guilt in the “premeditated” murder that was committed to rob Officer Hoff and receive his money.

State Sen. Don Gustavson, R-Sparks, and a group of retired Reno police detectives will be testifying Friday morning during a state Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on behalf of Senate Bill 283, which Gustavson hopes will help shave at least a few years off of “meritless” death penalty appeals so that inmates like Wilson don’t linger on death row for decades.

A death sentence is automatically appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court; all other appeals are voluntary. In 2010, the average time spent on death row in Nevada was about 17 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The U.S. Supreme Court already has ruled that states are not required to provide attorneys in postconviction appeals. Nevada law mandates it, leaving judges no choice but to appoint a new attorney.

Gustavson’s amendment to the state’s law on death penalty appeals would give judges discretion in appointing new lawyers, either when an inmate seeks to raise legal issues that mostly were denied in the past or claims that prior attorneys were ineffective.

“The current system for dealing with capital appeals is dysfunctional, and the limited judicial resources of our courts is promising years of delay at the expense of the families’ victims who deserve finality and closure,” Gustavson said Thursday.

But others said that this bill won’t fix Nevada’s death row problems and could keep innocent people on death row.

“We believe it would likely violate constitutional protections, such as equal protection and the Sixth Amendment,” Washoe County Public Defender Jeremy Bosler said.

Victim’s family

Hoff’s siblings — Patty Rowan of Las Vegas, Dennis George of Reno, and Sandra Hutchison of Woodland, Calif. — support the proposal because they said Nevada’s death penalty does not work, delaying justice.

82 inmates are on death row in Nevada, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections. The state’s last execution was in 2006, and that was only because the executed inmate, Reno serial killer Daryl Mack, gave up his appeals.

“I worry they won’t execute him in my lifetime,” Rowan, 73, said of Wilson.

Rowan said their mother, Lucille, died in 1997 brokenhearted because Wilson had still not faced justice.

“That would make my life worth dying for,” Rowan said. “When he got death, I thought it was a good sentence and he wouldn’t be allowed to live. This has been going on way too long and there’s gotta be a law that says ‘this is enough’ Families have to suffer through this, and it’s horrible for all of them. We’ve got to fix the law."

George and Hutchison said they are disappointed Wilson remains on death row.

“I believe in a life for a life,” Hutchison said. “It’s so annoying to me that here it’s been 32 years and he’s still hanging in there. It makes no sense. I don’t know a lot about the judicial system but it seems that after a certain amount of time something should be done. Nevada doesn’t do anything."

Opponents: This isn’t the fix

But not everyone is convinced that the proposal is the right way to solve the problem.

Washoe County Public Defender Jeremy Bosler said his office supports the need for speedy justice, but there is an even greater need for accuracy.

He said that in recent years, hundreds of death row inmates across the country have been exonerated following a closer look at their cases — even though juries determined there had been overwhelming evidence against them.

State and federal courts also affirmed many of those convictions, yet years later, evidence was discovered that forced prosecutors to dismiss charges, he said.

“The idea that at the end of this complex litigation, a court, or some other government officer, is given the discretion to decide if a person facing execution should have a lawyer to prepare a direct appeal does not comport with our country’s fundamental rights of due process,” Bosler said.

And while Washoe County District Attorney Richard Gammick, a Republican, said he supports the death penalty for deserving killers, he’s not so sure changing the state law would make a difference. He said the federal 9th Circuit Appeals Court would have to agree the changes are constitutional; otherwise, the cases would continue to be sent back to lower courts for new hearings.

“They’re not even close to solving the problem,” Gammick said of the proposal’s affect on reducing languishing death penalty appeals.

Supporters: Money could be saved, justice served.

Retired Reno police detectives Wayne Teglia, who approached Gustavson to introduce the bill, and Dave Jenkins said the general public likely isn’t aware of inmates languishing on death row for decades, even though juries and judicial panels voted they were the “worst of the worst” and deserve death.

Both said the proposal is not a moral debate about the death penalty. Instead, it’s about carrying out a legal sentence made available by the state Legislature. They also said that in this recession, it’s simply too expensive to allow taxpayer money to be wasted on legal fees associated with senseless appeals.

“It’s a slap in the face of justice when sentences never get carried out,” Jenkins said. “Right now, it’s a system of a process of no ends and a lack of respect for the verdict. How can you have a just process when if 32 years later, you are still on death row? There is something fundamentally wrong with the system."

Teglia said Wilson isn’t the only local murderer languishing on death row. He pointed to Ricky Sechrest, who was sentenced to die in 1983 for kidnapping and killing two young girls in Reno; Siaosi Vanisi, sentenced to die in 1999 for the hatchet slaying of a University of Nevada, Reno officer; and serial killer David Middleton, who was sentenced in 1997 for the deaths of 2 women in Reno.

“These guys are guilty as sin, and some have confessed,” said Teglia, an original investigator in the Hoff killing. “The chance of error on death row with a guilty conviction is very hard now that DNA is so advanced. Now, victims’ rights are not considered. The Nevada Legislature created this problem, and only they can fix it."

Source: Reno Gazette-Journal, April 8, 2011

A closer look

Senate Bill 283

What it does: Introduced by state Sen. Don Gustavson, R-Sparks, this bill aims to reduce some death penalty appeals by giving local judges discretion to keep appointing new lawyers to file new appeals, instead of mandating them by law.

Supporters say: Death-row inmates would not be able to abuse the appeal process as much, and would cut down the number of years they would be on death row. It could save the state money — possibly millions — in legal fees associated with endless appeals. A change would help ensure that a legal sentence was carried out for the benefit of victims, their families and the community. The U.S. Supreme Court already has ruled that states are not required to appoint attorneys in post conviction proceedings.

Critics say: Appeals are part of a person’s right to due process and should be left alone. Previous death-row exonerations across the country proved that later appeals provided evidence that proved the person was innocent. Any change in the law would also face scrutiny from the federal 9th Circuit Appeals Court, which could not accept the change and kick the case back to a lower court for more hearings.

What’s next

Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today.

Death row costs

The cost each year of housing Nevada’s 82 death-row inmates is about $2.1 million, said the Nevada Department of Corrections. While no current data were available, it was estimated in 2001 it costs the state between $2.5 to $5 million per death row inmate, compared to about $760,000 for an inmate sentenced to a life in prison without parole.

Death penalty appeals are conducted at state and federal courts. A death sentence is automatically appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court, while subsequent appeals are voluntary. According to Nevada Supreme Court appeals filings, Thomas Edward Wilson’s defense fees are more than $3,000 per month when he has an active appeal in that court.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, in 2008, California concluded it spent $137 million a year on its death-penalty system, compared to spending $11.5 million a year to fund an inmate’s life-in-prison term without parole.

Other states, the center said, found that costs to its indigent court services were so extraordinary that there were not enough resources to defend capital cases, such was the case in New Mexico. Other states such as New Jersey and New York also spent millions each year while having no executions.

Last month, Illinois became the 16th state to abolish the death penalty, after several death row inmates were exonerated throughout the last several years. Its last execution was 11 years ago.

Source: Reno Gazette-Journal, April 8, 2011

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U.S.: 13 states including Alabama ask Justice Department aid in obtaining scarce execution drug

The Justice Department says it's reviewing a request by 13 states looking for the government's help obtaining supplies of a scarce execution drug.

States are scrambling to find enough sodium thiopental after its sole U.S. manufacturer ceased production and some overseas supplies dried up.

The states asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jan. 25 for help identifying sources for the drug or making federal supplies available to states. The states that signed the letter are: Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia and Tennessee have sought supplies in England, while Nebraska purchased a batch from India.

Justice Department spokeswoman Alisa Finelli says the agency will review the letter.

Source: Associated Press, Feb. 8, 2011

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Nevada no longer able to acquire key drug used in lethal injections

A pharmaceutical company's decision to stop manufacturing one of the drugs used to kill death row inmates has left Nevada without a plan should any executions be ordered in the near future.

In response, Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto joined 11 other attorney generals recently in asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for help in either finding new sources for sodium thiopental or making the federal government's sources available to the states. Hospira Inc., maker of sodium thiopental, one of three drugs used during the lethal injection process, decided recently to end all attempts to manufacture the drug, said Dan Rosenberg, spokesman for the Lake Forest, Ill., company.

The company tried to move production of the drug to Italy, but last month, Italian authorities said they were concerned about it being used for executions, the company said in a statement. Since Hospira could not control what was done with the drug once sold, they decided to abandon production plans, the statement said.

Cardinal Health, the Dublin, Ohio-based company that supplied the Nevada Department of Corrections with sodium thiopental in the past, said it does not have any of the drug left in its inventory and will no longer distribute the product, according to spokesman Troy Kirkpatrick.

The Department of Corrections would need 5 grams of the drug to execute a prisoner, according to its lethal injection protocol, but it "does not maintain a supply of the drug," so none is available, said Kevin Ingram, department spokesman.

"The Nevada Department of Corrections has been working with the office of the attorney general in revising the Execution Manual," Ingram said. "Due to the limited supply of the execution drug used in the past, the drug protocol is being reviewed as well.

"No final decisions have been made by the Office of the Attorney general at this time."

In the letter to Holder, the 12 attorney generals wrote that since lethal injection is the "prescribed method of execution," they need help in the "procurement of one of the prescribed medications used in the lethal injection protocols."

Without a source, "many jurisdictions shortly will be unable to perform executions in cases where appeals have been exhausted and governors have signed death warrants," the letter said.

At present, 82 inmates are housed at Ely State Prison's death row, but the attorney general's office, the department of corrections and the federal public defender's office all agree that no executions are imminent.

"As far as I know, there is no one who is in line for execution in the immediate future," said death penalty expert Michael Pescetta, an assistant federal public defender. "I don't see anyone who is anywhere near going unless someone takes it in his head and goes crazy" and ends their appeals.

Most of the people executed in Nevada have done just that: dropped their appeals and become "volunteers." Only one of the 11 people executed since 1976 was put to death against his will.

According to Nevada's execution protocol, an inmate is 1st given 5 grams of sodium thiopental, which is a short-acting barbiturate; followed by 20 milligrams of Pavulon, which relaxes the muscles; and potassium chloride, to stop the heart.

The most recent man to be executed in Nevada was Daryl Mack, convicted of murdering 2 women. He ended his appeals and was given a lethal injection on April 26, 2006.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said states facing a shortage or a lack of sodium thiopental will likely move to other anesthetics, such as pentobarbital.

Oklahoma has executed an inmate using that drug, and Ohio plans to, he said.

"If they go smoothly, other states may go that direction," he said. "But it could result in court battles, there are potential differences with the drugs."

Source: Reno Gazette-Journal, Feb. 7, 2011

_________________________

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Author tells the story of the crime that sent a 17-year-old to Nevada's death chamber

Between 1864 and 1944, Nevada executed about 50 convicted criminals for capital offenses.

Up to that time, none was as young as Floyd Loveless and none since was as young.

Loveless went to the gas chamber despite legal appeals on his behalf and letters and petitions begging judges, parole board members and Gov. Edward P. Carville for clemency.

Years later, Reno author Janice Oberding latched onto Loveless's story and wrote "Under a Cruel Moon: Floyd Loveless' Story," (Thunder Mountain Productions Press, $16.95 paperback*), an account of the young killer's life and death.

While researching another Nevada murder case, Oberding came across the story of Loveless and his 2-year struggle for a sentence reduction. The offender's youth and the state's determination to apply the death penalty to one so young surprised her.

Oberding slogged through swamps of old news stories in newspapers and on microfiche. One of Loveless's lawyers, who had kept materials relating to the case for years, handed Oberding's sister his case files. She traveled to Indiana for more research.

"I talked once to his stepmother," Oberding said. "She still had a lot of negative things to say" about Loveless.

"It was 40 years, but she put me in contact with his brother," she said.

A tough life

Loveless was an Indiana boy with a tough family life. Early in life, he took to petty crime, ending up in a boys' reformatory. Unhappy with the abusive treatment there, Loveless and another young offender, Dale Cline, escaped and took off for California in a stolen car, stealing and robbing for money.

By the time the duo reached Nevada, they were ready to part ways. In Elko, Loveless stole another car so he could drive on alone to California, but witnesses reported the crime.

By the time Loveless arrived in Carlin, Constable A. H. Berning was waiting for him on U.S. 40. Rather than return to Elko with the constable and risk being sent back to Indiana, Loveless shot Berning twice, drove off with the lawman in his car, then left the car and the constable in the desert.

Lawmen quickly apprehended Loveless; he was tried, convicted and sentenced to death despite being only 15 years old at the time of the crime.

Loveless's fate probably was sealed despite his age because he shot a well-liked lawman in a small town, Oberding said.

"If he had done the same thing in Reno, a different city, he might have gotten life (in prison) ... that happened, and he was an outsider. ... If he had been a local boy, it might have been different. He had all the strikes against him."

Appeals for mercy during the 2 years of hearings and motions and a new trial fell on deaf ears, and the state Supreme Court let the lower court ruling stand. Clergymen, judges, Loveless family members, Nevada prison inmates and others pleaded the young man's case with Gov. Carville and others, but in the end Loveless was executed in Nevada's gas chamber on Sept. 29, 1944 -- the youngest person before or since then to die under a Nevada state death sentence.

A surprise in researching the story, Oberding said, was how many times it seemed Loveless had a chance at having his death sentence commuted.

"You'd think that at the 2nd trial they're going to give him life -- a commutation," she said. "He came so close to having life rather than being executed, but every time, there was something against him. It was a surprise how many legal opportunities came along, but the door was slammed on every one of them."

With a youthful crime record behind him in Indiana, was Loveless a cold-blooded killer? Oberding doubts that was the case. "I think he panicked," she said.

The story of his abusive childhood and what effect those circumstances might have played on his later life: "Probably there were lots of others like him that didn't do what he did," Oberding said. "You pity him like someone who was destined not to have a very long or pleasant life."

In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court abolished the death penalty for people younger than 18.

*Commercial link provided for information purposes only.

Source: Reno Gazette-Journal, August 15, 2010

Nevada's Death Row: Crimes and the Inmates Waiting to Die

The 1st Nevada prisoner to be executed was hanged in 1905. Since then, 11 other men have died because of their crimes.

James Biela is now on the list of men on death row for killing Brianna Denison.

For now he'll stay in the Washoe County Detention Center. Once he's transferred to Ely, the Nevada Department of Corrections says he'll go through the same intake process as all prisoners go through. That takes 3 weeks. Then, he'll spend his days with dozens of others on death row.

28-year-old, Biela will join 79 other men on death row at Ely state prison, once his sentence begins.

In Nevada, he automatically gets an appeal. But, there's no telling how long that process can take and how long Biela will be on death row.

"We've had people sitting on death row for 20 years," says Washoe County District Attorney, Dick Gammick.

In fact, there are 3 men who have been there since 1981 and 1 from 1979.

Gammick adds, "We've also had people volunteer to be executed."

Daryl Mack, a convicted rapist and double murderer asked to be executed. Mack told a judge he would rather die than spend the rest of his life on death row.

In April of 2006 he was Nevada's 12th inmate to be executed.

That was the last time anyone in Nevada was given a lethal injection.

While Biela waits for that same fate, he'll sit in a cell next to other men convicted of some pretty memorable crimes here, in Washoe county.

In 1997, David Middleton was sentenced to death for the murders of school teacher Kathy Powell and casino worker Thelma Davila.

Siaosi Vanisi received a death sentence in 1999 for murdering University of Nevada police officer George Sullivan.

In 2008, Tamir Hamilton was found guilty of killing Holly Quick. He is on death row and awaiting an appeal.

And Robert McConnell, was supposed to be executed earlier this year. But, in January he received a reprieve , his 2nd, so he could pursue an appeal.

He was convicted in 2003 of murder.

And as for Biela, Gammick says the death sentence was the best thing that could have happened. "A sexual predator was removed from our midst permanently."

The DOC says Biela will remain in Washoe County's custody until further notice.

He'll be sentenced on the other crimes July 30th.

Source: KTVN News, June 4, 2010

Federal judge grants stay of Nevada execution

The upcoming execution of a condemned Nevada inmate has been stayed for a 2nd time while he appeals to a federal court to overturn state rulings inhis case.

Robert Lee McConnell, 37, had been scheduled to die Feb. 1 after pleading guilty in Washoe County District Court to the 2002 murder of Brian Pierce, 25, his ex-girlfriend's fiance.

McConnell's appeal was expected after he was moved recently from the state's maximum-security prison in Ely to death row at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City, state corrections chief Howard Skolnik said Monday.

McConnell came within 34 minutes of being executed in 2005 after declaring he was ready to die then filing an appeal that won him an immediate stay.

He will be moved back to Ely to await a resolution of his latest appeal a 162-page document blaming the trial judge for letting him represent himself and challenging his conviction and death sentence as fundamentally unfair.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Jones in Reno issued the stay on Friday two days after McConnell filed his appeal on his own behalf with help from David Anthony, an assistant federal public defender in Las Vegas.

Jones granted McConnell 30 days to complete petitions and have a lawyer appointed for his appeal.

McConnell pleaded guilty to shooting Pierce 9 times. Prosecutors said he tried to dig out some of the bullets then plunged a steak knife into Pierce's chest.

McConnell then waited for his ex-girlfriend to return from work and kidnapped and raped her, court records show.

The Nevada Supreme Court last July rejected several appeals from McConnell, including one claim challenging Nevada's lethal injection method as unconstitutional.

Justices also dismissed arguments that the lower court erred in dismissing McConnell's claims that his guilty plea wasn't entered knowingly and voluntarily; that he had ineffective legal counsel; and that judges at his trial and appeals lacked impartiality because they were elected.

Source: Associated Press, January 20, 2010

Some Examples of Post-Furman Botched Executions

NOTE: The below is not intended to be a comprehensive catalogue of botched executions, but simply a listing of examples that are well-known. There are 42 examples listed: 2 by asphyxiation, 10 by electrocution, and 30 by lethal injection.

1. August 10, 1982. Virginia. Frank J. Coppola. Electrocution. Although no media representatives witnessed the execution and no details were ever released by the Virginia Department of Corrections, an attorney who was present later stated that it took two 55-second jolts of electricity to kill Coppola. The second jolt produced the odor and sizzling sound of burning flesh, and Coppola's head and leg caught on fire. Smoke filled the death chamber from floor to ceiling with a smoky haze.[1]

2. April 22, 1983. Alabama. John Evans. Electrocution. After the first jolt of electricity, sparks and flames erupted from the electrode attached to Evans's leg. The electrode burst from the strap holding it in place and caught on fire. Smoke and sparks also came out from under the hood in the vicinity of Evans's left temple. Two physicians entered the chamber and found a heartbeat. The electrode was reattached to his leg, and another jolt of electricity was applied. This resulted in more smoke and burning flesh. Again the doctors found a heartbeat. Ignoring the pleas of Evans's lawyer, a third jolt of electricity was applied. The execution took 14 minutes and left Evans's body charred and smoldering.[2]

3. Sept. 2, 1983. Mississippi. Jimmy Lee Gray. Asphyxiation. Officials had to clear the room eight minutes after the gas was released when Gray's desperate gasps for air repulsed witnesses. His attorney, Dennis Balske of Montgomery, Alabama, criticized state officials for clearing the room when the inmate was still alive. Said noted death penalty defense attorney David Bruck, "Jimmy Lee Gray died banging his head against a steel pole in the gas chamber while the reporters counted his moans (eleven, according to the Associated Press)."[3] Later it was revealed that the executioner, Barry Bruce, was drunk.[4]

4. December 12, 1984. Georgia. Alpha Otis Stephens. Electrocution. "The first charge of electricity ... failed to kill him, and he struggled to breathe for eight minutes before a second charge carried out his death sentence ..."[5] After the first two minute power surge, there was a six minute pause so his body could cool before physicians could examine him (and declare that another jolt was needed). During that six-minute interval, Stephens took 23 breaths. A Georgia prison official said, "Stephens was just not a conductor" of electricity.[6]

5. March 13, 1985. Texas. Stephen Peter Morin. Lethal Injection. Because of Morin's history of drug abuse, the execution technicians were forced to probe both of Morin's arms and one of his legs with needles for nearly 45 minutes before they found a suitable vein.[7]

6. October 16, 1985. Indiana. William E. Vandiver. Electrocution. After the first administration of 2,300 volts, Vandiver was still breathing. The execution eventually took 17 minutes and five jolts of electricity.[8] Vandiver's attorney, Herbert Shaps, witnessed the execution and observed smoke and the smell of burning. He called the execution "outrageous." The Department of Corrections admitted the execution "did not go according to plan."[9]

7. August 20, 1986. Texas. Randy Woolls. Lethal Injection. A drug addict, Woolls helped the execution technicians find a useable vein for the execution.[10]

8. June 24, 1987. Texas. Elliot Rod Johnson. Lethal Injection. Because of collapsed veins, it took nearly an hour to complete the execution.[11]

9. December 13, 1988. Texas. Raymond Landry. Lethal Injection. Pronounced dead 40 minutes after being strapped to the execution gurney and 24 minutes after the drugs first started flowing into his arms.[12] Two minutes after the drugs were administered, the syringe came out of Landry's vein, spraying the deadly chemicals across the room toward witnesses. The curtain separating the witnesses from the inmate was then pulled, and not reopened for fourteen minutes while the execution team reinserted the catheter into the vein. Witnesses reported "at least one groan." A spokesman for the Texas Department of Correction, Charles Brown (sic), said, "There was something of a delay in the execution because of what officials called a 'blowout.' The syringe came out of the vein, and the warden ordered the (execution) team to reinsert the catheter into the vein."[13]

10. May 24, 1989. Texas. Stephen McCoy. Lethal Injection. He had such a violent physical reaction to the drugs (heaving chest, gasping, choking, back arching off the gurney, etc.) that one of the witnesses (male) fainted, crashing into and knocking over another witness. Houston attorney Karen Zellars, who represented McCoy and witnessed the execution, thought the fainting would catalyze a chain reaction. The Texas Attorney General admitted the inmate "seemed to have a somewhat stronger reaction," adding "The drugs might have been administered in a heavier dose or more rapidly."[14]

11. July 14, 1989. Alabama. Horace Franklin Dunkins, Jr. Electrocution. It took two jolts of electricity, nine minutes apart, to complete the execution. After the first jolt failed to kill the prisoner (who was mildly retarded), the captain of the prison guard opened the door to the witness room and stated "I believe we've got the jacks on wrong."[15] Because the cables had been connected improperly, it was impossible to dispense sufficient current to cause death. The cables were reconnected before a second jolt was administered. Death was pronounced 19 minutes after the first electric charge. At a post-execution news conference, Alabama Prison Commissioner Morris Thigpen said, “I regret very very much what happened. [The cause] was human error."[16]

12. May 4, 1990. Florida. Jesse Joseph Tafero. Electrocution. During the execution, six-inch flames erupted from Tafero's head, and three jolts of power were required to stop his breathing. State officials claimed that the botched execution was caused by "inadvertent human error" -- the inappropriate substitution of a synthetic sponge for a natural sponge that had been used in previous executions.[17] They attempted to support this theory by sticking a part of a synthetic sponge into a "common household toaster" and observing that it smoldered and caught fire.[18]

13. September 12, 1990. Illinois. Charles Walker. Lethal Injection. Because of equipment failure and human error, Walker suffered excruciating pain during his execution. According to Gary Sutterfield, an engineer from the Missouri State Prison who was retained by the State of Illinois to assist with Walker's execution, a kink in the plastic tubing going into Walker's arm stopped the deadly chemicals from reaching Walker. In addition, the intravenous needle was inserted pointing at Walker's fingers instead of his heart, prolonging the execution.[19]

14. October 17, 1990. Virginia. Wilbert Lee Evans. Electrocution. When Evans was hit with the first burst of electricity, blood spewed from the right side of the mask on Evans's face, drenching Evans's shirt with blood and causing a sizzling sound as blood dripped from his lips. Evans continued to moan before a second jolt of electricity was applied. The autopsy concluded that Evans suffered a bloody nose after the voltage surge elevated his high blood pressure.[20]

15. August 22, 1991. Virginia. Derick Lynn Peterson. Electrocution. After the first cycle of electricity was applied, and again four minutes later, prison physician David Barnes inspected Peterson's neck and checked him with a stethoscope, announcing each time "He has not expired." Seven and one-half minutes after the first attempt to kill the inmate, a second cycle of electricity was applied. Prison officials later announced that in the future they would routinely administer two cycles before checking for a heartbeat.[21]

16. January 24, 1992. Arkansas. Rickey Ray Rector. Lethal Injection. It took medical staff more than 50 minutes to find a suitable vein in Rector's arm. Witnesses were kept behind a drawn curtain and not permitted to view this scene, but reported hearing Rector's eight loud moans throughout the process. During the ordeal Rector (who suffered from serious brain damage) helped the medical personnel find a vein. The administrator of State's Department of Corrections medical programs said (paraphrased by a newspaper reporter) "the moans did come as a team of two medical people that had grown to five worked on both sides of his body to find a vein." The administrator said "That may have contributed to his occasional outbursts." The difficulty in finding a suitable vein was later attributed to Rector's bulk and his regular use of antipsychotic medication.[22]

17. April 6, 1992. Arizona. Donald Eugene Harding. Asphyxiation. Death was not pronounced until 10 1/2 minutes after the cyanide tablets were dropped.[23] During the execution, Harding thrashed and struggled violently against the restraining straps. A television journalist who witnessed the execution, Cameron Harper, said that Harding's spasms and jerks lasted 6 minutes and 37 seconds. "Obviously, this man was suffering. This was a violent death ... an ugly event. We put animals to death more humanely."[24] Another witness, newspaper reporter Carla McClain, said, "Harding's death was extremely violent. He was in great pain. I heard him gasp and moan. I saw his body turn from red to purple."[25] One reporter who witnessed the execution suffered from insomnia and assorted illnesses for several weeks; two others were "walking vegetables" for several days.[26]

18. March 10, 1992. Oklahoma. Robyn Lee Parks. Lethal Injection. Parks had a violent reaction to the drugs used in the lethal injection. Two minutes after the drugs were dispensed, the muscles in his jaw, neck, and abdomen began to react spasmodically for approximately 45 seconds. Parks continued to gasp and violently gag until death came, some eleven minutes after the drugs were first administered. Tulsa World reporter Wayne Greene wrote that the execution looked "painful and ugly," and "scary." "It was overwhelming, stunning, disturbing -- an intrusion into a moment so personal that reporters, taught for years that intrusion is their business, had trouble looking each other in the eyes after it was over."[27]

19. April 23, 1992. Texas. Billy Wayne White. Lethal Injection. White was pronounced dead some 47 minutes after being strapped to the execution gurney. The delay was caused by difficulty finding a vein; White had a long history of heroin abuse. During the execution, White attempted to assist the authorities in finding a suitable vein.[28]

20. May 7, 1992. Texas. Justin Lee May. Lethal Injection. May had an unusually violent reaction to the lethal drugs. According to one reporter who witnessed the execution, May "gasped, coughed and reared against his heavy leather restraints, coughing once again before his body froze ..."[29] Associated Press reporter Michael Graczyk wrote, "Compared to other recent executions in Texas, May's reaction was more violent. He went into a coughing spasm, groaned and gasped, lifted his head from the death chamber gurney and would have arched his back if he had not been belted down. After he stopped breathing, his eyes and mouth remained open."[30]

21. May 10, 1994. Illinois. John Wayne Gacy. Lethal Injection. After the execution began, the lethal chemicals unexpectedly solidified, clogging the IV tube that lead into Gacy's arm, and prohibiting any further passage. Blinds covering the window through which witnesses observed the execution were drawn, and the execution team replaced the clogged tube with a new one. Ten minutes later, the blinds were then reopened and the execution process resumed. It took 18 minutes to complete.[31] Anesthesiologists blamed the problem on the inexperience of prison officials who were conducting the execution, saying that proper procedures taught in "IV 101" would have prevented the error.[32]

22. May 3, 1995. Missouri. Emmitt Foster. Lethal Injection. Seven minutes after the lethal chemicals began to flow into Foster's arm, the execution was halted when the chemicals stopped circulating. With Foster gasping and convulsing, the blinds were drawn so the witnesses could not view the scene. Death was pronounced thirty minutes after the execution began, and three minutes later the blinds were reopened so the witnesses could view the corpse.[33] According to William "Mal" Gum, the Washington County Coroner who pronounced death, the problem was caused by the tightness of the leather straps that bound Foster to the execution gurney; it was so tight that the flow of chemicals into the veins was restricted. Foster did not die until several minutes after a prison worker finally loosened the straps. The coroner entered the death chamber twenty minutes after the execution began, diagnosed the problem, and told the officials to loosen the strap so the execution could proceed.[34] In an editorial, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called the execution "a particularly sordid chapter in Missouri's capital punishment experience."[35]

23. January 23, 1996. Virginia. Richard Townes, Jr. Lethal Injection. This execution was delayed for 22 minutes while medical personnel struggled to find a vein large enough for the needle. After unsuccessful attempts to insert the needle through the arms, the needle was finally inserted through the top of Mr. Townes's right foot.[36]

24. July 18, 1996. Indiana. Tommie J. Smith. Lethal Injection. Because of unusually small veins, it took one hour and nine minutes for Smith to be pronounced dead after the execution team began sticking needles into his body. For sixteen minutes, the execution team failed to find adequate veins, and then a physician was called.[37] Smith was given a local anesthetic and the physician twice attempted to insert the tube in Smith's neck. When that failed, an angio-catheter was inserted in Smith's foot. Only then were witnesses permitted to view the process. The lethal drugs were finally injected into Smith 49 minutes after the first attempts, and it took another 20 minutes before death was pronounced.[38]

25. March 25, 1997. Florida. Pedro Medina. Electrocution. A crown of foot-high flames shot from the headpiece during the execution, filling the execution chamber with a stench of thick smoke and gagging the two dozen official witnesses. An official then threw a switch to manually cut off the power and prematurely end the two-minute cycle of 2,000 volts. Medina's chest continued to heave until the flames stopped and death came.[39] After the execution, prison officials blamed the fire on a corroded copper screen in the headpiece of the electric chair, but two experts hired by the governor later concluded that the fire was caused by the improper application of a sponge (designed to conduct electricity) to Medina's head.

26. May 8, 1997. Oklahoma. Scott Dawn Carpenter. Lethal Injection. Carpenter was pronounced dead some 11 minutes after the lethal injection was administered. As the drugs took effect, Carpenter began to gasp and shake. "This was followed by a guttural sound, multiple spasms and gasping for air" until his body stopped moving, three minutes later.[40]

27. June 13, 1997. South Carolina. Michael Eugene Elkins. Lethal Injection. Because Elkins's body had become swollen from liver and spleen problems, it took nearly an hour to find a suitable vein for the insertion of the catheter. Elkins tried to assist the executioners, asking "Should I lean my head down a little bit?" as they probed for a vein. After numerous failures, a usable vein was finally found in Elkins's neck.[41]

28. April 23, 1998. Texas. Joseph Cannon. Lethal Injection. It took two attempts to complete the execution. After making his final statement, the execution process began. A vein in Cannon's arm collapsed and the needle popped out. Seeing this, Cannon lay back, closed his eyes, and exclaimed to the witnesses, "It's come undone." Officials then pulled a curtain to block the view of the witnesses, reopening it fifteen minutes later when a weeping Cannon made a second final statement and the execution process resumed.[42]

29. August 26, 1998. Texas. Genaro Ruiz Camacho. Lethal Injection. The execution was delayed approximately two hours due, in part, to problems finding suitable veins in Camacho's arms.[43]

30. October 5, 1998. Nevada. Roderick Abeyta. Lethal Injection. It took 25 minutes for the execution team to find a vein suitable for the lethal injection.[44]

31. July 8, 1999. Florida. Allen Lee Davis. Electrocution. "Before he was pronounced dead ... the blood from his mouth had poured onto the collar of his white shirt, and the blood on his chest had spread to about the size of a dinner plate, even oozing through the buckle holes on the leather chest strap holding him to the chair."[45] His execution was the first in Florida's new electric chair, built especially so it could accommodate a man Davis's size (approximately 350 pounds). Later, when another Florida death row inmate challenged the constitutionality of the electric chair, Florida Supreme Court Justice Leander Shaw commented that "the color photos of Davis depict a man who -- for all appearances -- was brutally tortured to death by the citizens of Florida."[46] Justice Shaw also described the botched executions of Jesse Tafero and Pedro Medina (q.v.), calling the three executions "barbaric spectacles" and "acts more befitting a violent murderer than a civilized state."[47] Justice Shaw included pictures of Davis's dead body in his opinion.[48] The execution was witnessed by a Florida State Senator, Ginny Brown-Waite, who at first was "shocked" to see the blood, until she realized that the blood was forming the shape of a cross and that it was a message from God saying he supported the execution.[49]

32. May 3, 2000. Arkansas. Christina Marie Riggs. Lethal Injection. Riggs dropped her appeals and asked to be executed. However, the execution was delayed for 18 minutes when prison staff couldn't find a suitable vein in her elbows. Finally, Riggs agreed to the executioners' requests to have the needles in her wrists.[50]

33. June 8, 2000. Florida. Bennie Demps. Lethal Injection. It took execution technicians 33 minutes to find suitable veins for the execution. "They butchered me back there," said Demps in his final statement. "I was in a lot of pain. They cut me in the groin; they cut me in the leg. I was bleeding profusely. This is not an execution, it is murder." The executioners had no unusual problems finding one vein, but because Florida protocol requires a second alternate intravenous drip, they continued to work to insert another needle, finally abandoning the effort after their prolonged failures.[51]

34. December 7, 2000. Texas. Claude Jones. Lethal Injection. Jones was a former intravenous drug abuser. His execution was delayed 30 minutes while the execution team struggled to insert an IV into a vein. One member of the execution team commented, "They had to stick him about five times. They finally put it in his leg." Wrote Jim Willett, the warden of the Walls Unit and the man responsible for conducting the execution: "The medical team could not find a vein. Now I was really beginning to worry. If you can't stick a vein then a cut-down has to be performed. I have never seen one and would just as soon go through the rest of my career the same way. Just when I was really getting worried, one of the medical people hit a vein in the left leg. Inside calf to be exact. The executioner had warned me not to panic as it was going to take a while to get the fluids in the body of the inmate tonight because he was going to push the drugs through very slowly. Finally, the drug took effect and Jones took his last breath."[52]

35. June 28, 2000. Missouri. Bert Leroy Hunter. Lethal Injection. Hunter had an unusual reaction to the lethal drugs, repeatedly coughing and gasping for air before he lapsed into unconsciousness.[53] An attorney who witnessed the execution reported that Hunter had "violent convulsions. His head and chest jerked rapidly upward as far as the gurney restraints would allow, and then he fell quickly down upon the gurney. His body convulsed back and forth like this repeatedly. ... He suffered a violent and agonizing death."[54]

36. November 7, 2001. Georgia. Jose High. Lethal Injection. High was pronounced dead some one hour and nine minutes after the execution began. After attempting to find a useable vein for "15 to 20 minutes," the emergency medical technicians under contract to do the execution abandoned their efforts. Eventually, one needle was stuck in High's hand, and a physician was called in to insert a second needle between his shoulder and neck.

37. May 2, 2006. Ohio. Joseph L. Clark. Lethal Injection. It took 22 minutes for the execution technicians found a vein suitable for insertion of the catheter. But three or four minutes thereafter, as the vein collapsed and Clark’s arm began to swell, he raised his head off the gurney and said five times, “It don’t work. It don’t work.” The curtains surrounding the gurney were then closed while the technicians worked for 30 minutes to find another vein. Media witnesses later reported that they heard “moaning, crying out and guttural noises.”[55] Finally, death was pronounced almost 90 minutes after the execution began. A spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Corrections told reporters that the execution team included paramedics, but not a physician or a nurse.[56]

38. December 13, 2006. Florida. Angel Diaz. Lethal Injection. After the first injection was administered, Mr. Diaz continued to move, and was squinting and grimacing as he tried to mouth words. A second dose was then administered, and 34 minutes passed before Mr. Diaz was declared dead. At first a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Corrections claimed that this was because Mr. Diaz had some sort of liver disease.[57] After performing an autopsy, the Medical Examiner, Dr. William Hamilton, stated that Mr. Diaz’s liver was undamaged, but that the needle had gone through Mr. Diaz’s vein and out the other side, so the deadly chemicals were injected into soft tissue, rather than the vein. Two days after the execution, Governor Jeb Bush suspended all executions in the state and appointed a commission “to consider the humanity and constitutionality of lethal injections.”[58]

39. May 24, 2007. Ohio. Christopher Newton. Lethal Injection. According to the Associated Press, “prison medical staff” at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility struggled to find veins on each of Newton’s arms during the execution. Newton, who weighted 265 pounds, was declared dead almost two hours after the execution process began. The execution “team” stuck Newton at least ten times with needles before getting the shunts in place were the needles are injected.[59]

40. June 26, 2007. Georgia. John Hightower. Lethal Injection. It took approximately 40 minutes for the nurses to find a suitable vein to administer the lethal chemicals, and death was not pronounced until 7:59, 59 minutes after the execution process began.[60]

41. June 4, 2008. Georgia. Curtis Osborne. Lethal Injection. After a 55-minute delay while the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed his final appeal, prison medical staff began the execution by trying to find suitable veins in which to insert the IV. The executioners struggled for 35 minutes to find a vein, and it took 14 minutes after the fatal drugs were administered before death was pronounced by two physicians who were inside the death chamber.[61]

42. Sept. 15, 2009. Ohio. Romell Broom. Lethal Injection. Efforts to find a suitable vein and to execute Mr. Broom were terminated after more than two hours when the executioners were unable to find a useable vein in Mr. Broom’s arms or legs. During the failed efforts, Mr. Broom winced and grimaced with pain. After the first hour’s lack of success, on several occasions Broom tried to help the executioners find a good vein. “At one point, he covered his face with both hands and appeared to be sobbing, his stomach heaving.[62] Finally, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland ordered the execution to stop, and announced plans to attempt the execution anew after a one-week delay so that physicians could be consulted for advice on how the man could be killed more efficiently.[63] The executioners blamed the problems on Mr. Broom’s history of intravenous drug use.

ENDNOTES

[1]. Deborah W. Denno, Is Electrocution an Unconstitutional Method of Execution? The Engineering of Death over the Century, 35 WILLIAM & MARY L. REV. 551, 664-665 (1994).

[2]. For a description of the execution by Evans's defense attorney, see Russell F. Canan, Burning at the Wire: The Execution of John Evans, in FACING THE DEATH PENALTY: ESSAYS ON A CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT 60 (Michael L. Radelet ed. 1989); see also Glass v. Louisiana, 471 U.S. 1080, 1091-92 (1985).

[3]. David Bruck, Decisions of Death, THE NEW REPUBLIC, Dec. 12, 1984, at 24-25.

[4]. Ivan Solotaroff, The Last Face You'll Ever See, 124 ESQUIRE 90, 95 (Aug. 1995).

[5]. Two Charges Needed to Electrocute Georgia Murderer, N.Y. TIMES, Dec. 13, 1984, at 12.

[6]. Editorial, N.Y. TIMES, Dec. 17, 1984, at 22.

[7]. Murderer of Three Women is Executed in Texas, N.Y. TIMES, March 14, 1985, at 9.

[8]. Killer's Electrocution Takes 17 Minutes in Indiana Chair, WASH. POST, Oct. 17, 1985, at A16.

[9]. Indiana Executes Inmate Who Slew Father-In-Law, N.Y. TIMES, Oct. 17, 1985, at 22.

[10]. Killer Lends A Hand to Find A Vein for Execution, L.A. TIMES, Aug. 20, 1986, at 2.

[11]. Addict Is Executed in Texas For Slaying of 2 in Robbery, N.Y. TIMES, June 25, 1987, at A24.

[12]. Drawn-out Execution Dismays Texas Inmates, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, Dec. 15, 1988, at 29A.

[13]. Landry Executed for '82 Robbery-Slaying, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, Dec. 13, 1988, at 29A.

[14]. Witness to an Execution, HOUS. CHRON., May 27, 1989, at 11.

[15]. John Archibald, On Second Try, Dunkins Executed for Murder, BIRMINGHAM NEWS, July 14, 1989, at 1.

[16]. Peter Applebome, 2 Jolts in Alabama Execution, N.Y. TIMES, July 15, 1989, at 6.

[17]. Cynthia Barnett, Tafero Meets Grisly Fate in Chair, GAINESVILLE SUN, May 5, 1990, at 1; Cynthia Barnett, A Sterile Scene Turns Grotesque, GAINESVILLE SUN, May 5, 1990, at 1; Bruce Ritchie, Flames, Smoke Mar Execution of Murderer, FLORIDA TIMES-UNION (Jacksonville), May 5, 1990, at 1; Bruce Ritchie, Report on Flawed Execution Cites Human Error, FLORIDA TIMES-UNION (Jacksonville), May 9, 1990, at B1.

[18]. Bill Moss, Chair Concerns Put Deaths on Hold, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, July 18, 1990, at 1B.

[19]. Niles Group Questions Execution Procedure, UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL, Nov. 8, 1992 (LEXIS/NEXUS file).

[20]. Mike Allen, Groups Seek Probe of Electrocution's Unusual Events, RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, Oct. 19, 1990, at B1; Mike Allen, Minister Says Execution Was Unusual, RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, Oct. 20, 1990, at B1; DeNeen L. Brown, Execution Probe Sought, WASH. POST, Oct. 21, 1990, at D1.

[21]. Karen Haywood, Two Jolts Needed to Complete Execution, THE FREE-LANCE STAR (Fredericksburg, Vir.), Aug. 23, 1991, at 1; Death Penalty Opponents Angry About Latest Execution, RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, Aug. 24, 1991, at 1; Virginia Alters its Procedure for Executions in Electric Chair, WASH. POST, Aug. 24, 1991, at B3.

[22]. Joe Farmer, Rector, 40, Executed for Officer's Slaying, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, Jan. 25, 1992, at 1; Joe Farmer, Rector's Time Came, Painfully Late, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT GAZETTE, Jan. 26, 1992, at 1B; Sonja Clinesmith, Moans Pierced Silence During Wait, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT GAZETTE, Jan. 26, 1992, at 1B; Marshall Frady, Death in Arkansas, THE NEW YORKER, Feb. 22, 1993, at 105.

[23]. Gruesome Death in Gas Chamber Pushes Arizona Toward Injections, N.Y. TIMES, Apr. 25, 1992, at 9.

[24]. Charles L. Howe, Arizona Killer Dies in Gas Chamber, S.F. CHRON., Apr. 7, 1992, at A2.

[25]. Id.

[26]. Abraham Kwok, Injection: The No-Fuss Executioner, ARIZONA REPUBLIC, Feb. 28, 1993, at 1.

[27]. Wayne Greene, 11-Minute Execution Seemingly Took Forever, TULSA WORLD, Mar. 11, 1992, at A13.

[28]. Another U.S. Execution Amid Criticism Abroad, N.Y. TIMES, Apr. 24, 1992, at B7.

[29]. Robert Wernsman, Convicted Killer May Dies, ITEM (Huntsville, Tex.), May 7, 1992, at 1.

[30]. Michael Graczyk, Convicted Killer Gets Lethal Injection, HERALD (Denison, Tex.), May 8, 1992.

[31]. Scott Fornek and Alex Rodriguez, Gacy Lawyers Blast Method: Lethal Injections Under Fire After Equipment Malfunction, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, May 11, 1994, at 5; Rich Chapman, Witnesses Describe Killer's 'Macabre' Final Few Minutes, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, May 11, 1994, at 5.

[32]. Rob Karwath & Susan Kuczka, Gacy Execution Delay Blamed on Clogged IV Tube, CHICAGO TRIB., May 11, 1994, at 1 (Metro Lake Section).

[33]. Because they could not observe the entire execution procedure through the closed blinds, two witnesses later refused to sign the standard affidavit that stated they had witnessed the execution. Witnesses to a Botched Execution, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, May 8, 1995, at 6B.

[34]. Tim O'Neil, Too-Tight Strap Hampered Execution, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, May 5, 1995, at B1; Jim Slater, Execution Procedure Questioned, KANSAS CITY STAR, May 4, 1995, at C8.

[35]. Witnesses to a Botched Execution, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, May 8, 1995, at 6B.

[36]. Store Clerk's Killer Executed in Virginia, N.Y. TIMES, Jan. 25, 1996, at A19.

[37]. The involvement of this anonymous physician violated rules of both the American Medical Association and the Indiana State Medical Association. Sherri Edwards & Suzanne McBride, Doctor's Aid in Injection Violated Ethics Rule: Physician Helped Insert the Lethal Tube in a Breach of AMA's Policy Forbidding Active Role in Execution, INDIANAPOLIS STAR, July 19, 1996, at A1.

[38]. Id.; Suzanne McBride, Problem With Vein Delays Execution, INDIANAPOLIS NEWS, July 18, 1996, at 1.

[39]. Doug Martin, Flames Erupt from Killer's Headpiece, GAINESVILLE SUN, March 26, 1997, at 1. Medina was executed despite a life-long history of mental illness, and the Florida Supreme Court split 4-3 on whether to grant an evidentiary hearing because of serious questions about his guilt. This puts to rest any conceivable argument that Medina could have been guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt." Medina v. State, 690 So.2d 1241 (1997). The family of the victim had joined in a plea for executive clemency, in part because they believed Medina was innocent. Id., at 1252, n. 6. Even the Pope appealed for clemency. Martin, op. cit.

[40]. Michael Overall & Michael Smith, 22-Year-Old Killer Gets Early Execution, TULSA WORLD, May 8, 1997, at A1.

[41]. Killer Helps Officials Find A Vein At His Execution, CHATTANOOGA FREE PRESS, June 13, 1997, at A7.

[42]. Cannon was executed for a crime committed when he was 17 years old. 1st Try Fails to Execute Texas Death Row Inmate, ORLANDO SENT., Apr. 23, 1998, at A16; Michael Graczyk, Texas Executes Man Who Killed San Antonio Attorney at Age 17, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, Apr. 23, 1998, at B5.

[43]. Michael Graczyk, Reputed Marijuana Smuggler Executed for 1988 Dallas Slaying, ASSOCIATED PRESS, August 27, 1998.

[44]. Sean Whaley, Nevada Executes Killer, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, Oct. 5, 1998, at 1A.

[45]. Davis Execution Gruesome, GAINESVILLE SUN, July 8, 1999, at 1A.

[46]. Provenzano v. State, 744 So.2d 413, 440 (Fla. 1999).

[47]. Id.

[48]. Id., at 442-44.

[49]. Mary Jo Melone, A Switch is Thrown, and God Speaks, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, July 13, 1999, p. 1B.

[50] Ron Moore, At Last I can be with my Babies, SCOTTISH DAILY RECORD, May 4, 2000, at 24.

[51]. Rick Bragg, Florida Inmate Claims Abuse in Execution, N.Y. TIMES, June 9, 2000, at A14; Phil Long & Steve Brousquet, Execution of Slayer Goes Wrong; Delay, Bitter Tirade Precede His Death, MIAMI HERALD, June 8, 2000.

[52] Sarah Rimer, Working Death Row, N.Y. TIMES, Dec. 17, 2000, at 1.

[53]. David Scott, Convicted Killer Who Once Asked to Die is Executed, ASSOCIATED PRESS, June 28, 2000.

[54]. Letter from attorney Cheryl Rafert to Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan, June 30, 2000.

[55] Alan Johnson, ‘It Don’t Work,’ Inmate Says During Botched Execution, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, May 3, 2006.

[56] Adam Liptak, Trouble Finding Inmate’s Vein Slows Lethal Injection in Ohio, N.Y. Times, May 3, 2006; John Mangels, Condemned Killer Complains Lethal Injection ‘Isn’t Working,’ Plain Dealer (Cleveland), May 3, 2006.

[57] Terry Aguayo, Florida Death Row Inmate Dies Only After Second Chemical Dose, New York Times, Dec. 15, 2006.

[58] Adam Liptak & Terry Aguayo, After Problem Execution, Governor Bush Suspends the Death Penalty in Florida, New York Times, Dec. 16, 2006.

[59]Associated Press, May 24, 2007.

[60] Lateef Mungin, Triple Murderer Executed After 40-minute Search for Vein, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 27, 2007.

[61] Rhonda Cook, Executioners had Trouble Putting Murderer to Death: For 35 Minutes, They couldn’t find good Vein for Lethal Injection, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 4, 2008.

[62] Alan Johnson, Effort to Kill Inmate Halted - 2 Hours of Needle Sticks Fail; Strickland Steps In, Columbus Dispatch, Sept. 16, 2009.

[63] Bob Driehaus, Ohio Plans to Try Again as Execution Goes Wrong, New York Times, Sept. 17, 2009; Stephen Majors, Governor Delays Execution After Suitable Vein Can’t Be Found, Chillicothe Gazette, Sept. 16, 2009.

Michael L. Radelet, University of Colorado, Radelet@Colorado.edu, September 16, 2009

Source: Death Penalty Information Center, Sept. 28, 2009