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January 19, 2014
Lots of notable reactions to and predictions after Ohio's latest struggles with lethal injection
As reported here and here, Ohio's experiment with a new and novel two-drug execution protocol this past week did not look as peaceful as most everyone wants. While the reaction by the family of the executed murderer is to talk up a possible lawsuit against the state of Ohio, reactions of lots of others are varied as evidenced in some of the quotes found within this sampling of recent media stories:
From the AP here, "Unclear Future for Executions After Ohio's Longest"
From the AP here, "Missouri, Wyoming lawmakers open to allowing executions by firing squad"
From CNN here, "Family, experts: Ohio execution snafu points to flaws in lethal injection"
From the Los Angeles Times here, "Prolonged execution renews debate over death by lethal injection"
From Reuters here, "U.S. states could turn to firing squads if execution drugs scarce"
From the New York Times here, "After a Prolonged Execution in Ohio, Questions Over 'Cruel and Unusual'"
Recent related posts:
- Ohio completes execution using novel two-drug lethal injection protocol... UPDATED with media reports of problems
- "Family to file lawsuit after troubled execution"... seeking what remedy?
January 19, 2014 at 10:05 AM | Permalink
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Darn. I wrote a comment and it disappeared with I hit some space button. If we kill a human in the name of the People of the Great State of Ohio then we will have to answer to Saint Peter for our actions. Method is not madness. Bullets are cleaner, quicker, more humane. Perhaps the word "humane" gets overworked. If you are gonna be a bear be a grizzly. A firing squad of six can have three aim for the head and three aim for the heart. That way the human is brain dead and heart beat dead at the same time. No need to wait for time to allow some poison to work its wonders. Also, the word "drug" is a misnomer. It is akin to the use of "execution" when you mean to say that you are going to "kill" a human. I guess it sounds more civil to say that y'all are gonna execute an inmate than kill a human. The "drug" word is used when a scheduled poison is intended to heal. Killing is not healing. In England they employ the words "scheduled poison" for drugs.
The whole scene of tying the human down on a gurney, stabbing him with a needle, injecting poison, giving him last rites, and sending him off to death is a bit weird. It is not manly. Stand him up, tie him to a pole, line up six men/women with rifles and shoot the human--three to the heart, three to the head. The Governor must be one of the shooters. His bullet must be painted red so that we can ordain if he is a good shot. This way the Pardon Power will be more keenly felt by him and his voters.
The other shooters can be volunteers from this blog if they live in the Great State of Ohio or the state doing the killing. I would volunteer but I am half blind.
Posted by: Liberty1st | Jan 19, 2014 11:43:54 AM
These articles, to a certain extent, are silly. Assuming the protocol was followed, the guy had enough midalozam in him to knock out a proverbial horse. These responses almost certainly were autonomic.
So then we are left with optics, and that's what the anti-DP crowd will argue.
Posted by: federalist | Jan 19, 2014 12:01:44 PM
The state statute on the death penalty should include a provision on Last Rites which must be administered to a human just prior to his being shot by the firing squad. It should read as follows:
Be careful out there and don't move when they yell fire.
You will have an interview at the Pearly Gates within 24 hours. At that interview you have certain rights.
You have the rite to remain silent. Anything you say to Saint Peter may be used against you in determining your destination.
If you are sent to Hell you may not teach other inmates the secrets of your criminal ways.
If you are sent to Heaven you must look down with pity from the cloud which you share with Google at the poor souls on Earth.
If you are sent to Limbo you must put up with those fools who live with you in Florissant, Missouri and bid your time for another assignment.
If you wish to come back as a dog in your next incarnation you must request same and qualify.
Take the bullets like a Man.
Posted by: Liberty1st | Jan 19, 2014 12:22:03 PM
If this new protocol didn't go totally well the first time around, it is not overly surprising. Electrocution didn't work that well the first time either.
The "optics" of things are a concern for people generally speaking. It is not something unique to the "anti-AP crowd." The concern is that the "optics" (like an appearance of inequality etc.) is a sign of something substantively being wrong. This would include perhaps that even if the protocol was followed ("assuming"), it isn't adequate. The 8th Amendment flags "unusual" punishments in part since novelty is a concern. It can be fine, but it also can be risky.
Optics also is something that usually factors respecting government action. For instance, it is one reason why it stopped public executions. It seemed distasteful to have a public spectacle. In Baze, optics was a reason cited by the government for one of the drugs in the protocol. It is correct that optics alone shouldn't be our concern here. Nor is it of the articles shown. That must be the "certain extent" not silly.
Posted by: Joe | Jan 19, 2014 2:33:45 PM
Lib: I do not know if I would have the physical courage to dispatch even a serial killer of children. I know one thing with utmost certainty. When the hierarchy of the lawyer profession is arrested, tried and condemned to death for their treason to our lawyer besieged nation, I could personally slit the throats of these traitors all day long, without the slightest hesitation. It is us or them. Patriotism and love of nation would overcome all personal disgust or hesitation.
The comatose are capable of complex actions, such as pulling out tubes into their lungs that are irritating them. The condemned was unconscious immediately. Consciousness could be monitored with awareness measurement from anesthesiology.
http://ceaccp.oxfordjournals.org/content/5/6/183.full.pdf
Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 19, 2014 7:59:27 PM
But, Supremacy Clause: Would you give them Last Rites? Would you include in those Rites "the right to remain silent at the Pearly Gates?"
Posted by: Liberty1st | Jan 19, 2014 9:26:45 PM
Count on Joe to use a lot of words to say not a whole lot. (By the way, Joe, I am still waiting for your defense of the relatively recent stays of execution and Ginsburg's dippy dissent.)
With respect to the issue at hand, my point, of course, is that if the midazolam was properly delivered (which seems exceedingly likely) then McGuire didn't suffer, unlike, of course, Joy Stewart's unborn baby which died by oxygen starvation. Joe, of course, knows all of this, and tries to defend the reaction of the anti-DP zealots by say that optics are important. He cites the states' justification for the curare-like pancuronium. But that just elides the point--that something is constitutionally permissible doesn't make the absence of it constitutionally required. In other words, preventing bad optics doesn't raise the bar on what's constitutionally permissible. If McGuire didn't suffer, his autonomic movements are irrelevant.
Posted by: federalist | Jan 19, 2014 9:54:05 PM
Lib: If you believe in God, you know, he will read their minds for knowledge, consent, and intent for their mortal sins, including betrayal of nation for the benefit of a filthy criminal cult enterprise. They are pretending man can read the mens rea of the drunken, impulsive criminal, which is not only a lie, but blasphemy, attributing the power and duty of God to the court. I would bet you, they go to the Nether World, all of these criminals, who have totally infiltrated our government, not just for their great crimes against nation, and humanity, but also for their blasphemy. And God does not offer plea deals.
Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 19, 2014 10:47:11 PM
I think criminal behavior runs in the genes. So sterilizing convicted criminals has its merits. When a person is arrested we give them Miranda warnings. I think when we kill them for their crimes we need to give them Carmen Miranda Warnings or Last Rites. No Rite Aid intended. They should know that anything that they say to Saint Peter might land them in Hell or some suburb of Saint Louis MO if he sends them to Limbo. And that is not Limbaugh who is from Cape Girardeau.
Because if we The People kill a human we owe it to them to send them off with some knowledge of where they are going and what to expect in the next 24 hours. If we kill them on Wednesday, it is golf day, and Saint Peter will have a stand-in. Dog only knows what a stand-in will have to say or do to a killer who got killed for killing. The pain of the death might be penalty enough (no pun intended) and the guy might get reincarnated back as a human in NYC. God only knows. I am just saying.... if we kill em we ought to do the right thing. Last Rights! Sorry, Last Rites!.
Posted by: Liberty1st | Jan 20, 2014 7:43:13 AM
