Ohio lethal injection takes 2 hours, 10 tries

from cnn

• Prison staff tries at least 10 times to find condemned inmate's vein
• Christopher Newton died at 11:53 a.m. Thursday
• Botched execution blamed on Newton's weight -- 265 lbs.
• Death penalty opponents call for an end to executions in Ohio

LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- Death penalty opponents called on the state to halt executions after prison staff struggled to find suitable veins on a condemned man's arm to deliver the lethal chemicals.

The execution team stuck Christopher Newton at least 10 times with needles Thursday to insert the shunts where the chemicals are injected.

He died at 11:53 a.m., nearly two hours after the scheduled start of his execution at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. The process typically takes about 20 minutes.

"What is clear from today's botched execution is that the state doesn't know how to execute people without torturing them to death," American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio attorney Carrie Davis said Thursday.

"Having one botched execution is too many; that Ohio has now had two botched executions in as many years is intolerable."

Officials said the delay was due to Newton's size -- he weighed 265 pounds. In May 2006, the execution of Joseph Lewis Clark was delayed about 90 minutes because the team could not find a suitable vein. He was a longtime intravenous drug user.

A group of Ohio inmates is suing over the state's injection method, saying it is unconstitutionally cruel, and Thursday's delay helps show that the state is unable to smoothly complete executions, said Greg Meyers, chief counsel for the Public Defender's Office.

"There will be a day in trial that they will have to answer up as to what caused this two-hour delay," he said. "That's a lot of time messing around trying to get a needle in a vein."

But Newton, who had had insisted on the death penalty as punishment and made no attempt to appeal, chatted and laughed with prison staff throughout the delay. It took so long that the staff paused to allow Newton a bathroom break.

Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat who took office in January, said every precaution was taken to make sure Newton was treated respectfully and was not in pain. He said he understood why death penalty opponents wanted a moratorium, but "I think what happened today is not any supporting justification for that."

He was put to death for beating and choking cell mate Jason Brewer, 27, in 2001 after they argued during a chess game. He had slammed Brewer's head onto the floor, stomped his throat and cut a piece from his orange prison suit to strangle him.

Problems with injection executions have caused delays in other states, including one in Florida last December that prompted Gov. Jeb Bush to suspend executions as a commission examines its procedures.

In a statement read by a lawyer after his death, Newton, 37, apologized to Brewer's family and his own. But the only thing Newton said in the death chamber was: "Yes, boy, I could sure go for some beef stew and a chicken bone. That's it."

A decision was made not to intervene when the execution was delayed because Newton wanted to die and "our job ... (is) to represent our clients," Meyers said.

Dude shouldn't have strangled his cellmate to death then.

They was an excellent system I heard used for awhile in some western state involving the prisoner being restrained + a vice held rifle. The rifle would hit exactly in the heart and kill the prisoner almost instantly.

Can't fuck that up too much.

Rather get shot in the heart then be filled with a poison cocktail.

Not finding a vein as a botched execution .... It's debatable. I've heard of a lot more brutal scenarios. I think, in most instances, it really comes down to one's stance on the death penalty. Something is amiss with these chemical injections, however.

OEC

they should just use the guillotine, that to me has always seemed like the most painless and hard to fuck up option.

There are some countries that think jailing felons is mean and unconstitutional.

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Originally Posted by Kidthorazine

they should just use the guillotine, that to me has always seemed like the most painless and hard to fuck up option.

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It is ironic. I think methods that "shock the conscience" of the public are disdained for ones that may be more brutal. It will eventually come down to interpretations of what constitutes "cruel and unusual" vis a vis the 8th Amendment and the Ohio State Constitution. It could get pretty macabre given how some Justices interpret it. Thomas would laugh at this.

More importantly: Folks just need to decide what they see as right and wrong. This one is a close call for me. I'd probably call a very brief moratorium.

OEC

Why not just start a jet engine and toss the dude into the intake end?

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Originally Posted by EasyRider

Why not just start a jet engine and toss the dude into the intake end?

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That's the irony I see. People are so shocked by the visuals, they forego it for medical procedures that may well be a lot more painful. There really is no answer here. It does come down to a stance on the death penalty (usually). There is no acceptable death penalty method for the opponents of the death penalty. I am troubled that they keep fucking it up to the point of legal and political intervention. I would think that in 2007 they could get it right. It reminds me of the abortion debate in an odd sort of way. A pro-life person will see few, if any, acceptable scenarios and methods of abortion. It annoys me that this will likely go on ad nauseum. I do not see The Supreme Court reading the death penalty out of existence. Some methods? Maybe. Juvenile and mentally challenged people are no longer executed. Beyond that? I don't see it.

OEC

Well, if you wanna be REALLY humane, put someone in a room and flood it with carbon monoxide.

nitrogen asphyxiation has been suggested as a painless method actually, since you would be able to breathe normally and not feel the suffocating sensation, which is caused by high levels of carbon dioxide in the lungs.

I'm all for the death penalty. Its pretty fuckin' righteous.

Now I typed out this big schpeal, but I found many contradictions in what I was saying so, I'll simplify what I was saying:

Different situations require different punishments. However, it is my strong belief that all death punishments should be the same: Slow, and painful. Should the motive behind murder be: revenge, greed, hate, etc. Now should the motive be self defense, a slap on the wrist and access to any sort of gun/weapon and all permits/licenses surrounding guns revoked.

But thats just my belief...

~TQP

They should have fed Saddam into a plastic shredder, feet first, while a gang of soldiers ***** his female relatives before his eyes.

This is why you guys don't make the laws thank god.

That's what Saddam did to others.

Al Qaeda wrote a comic book on how to gouge out people's eyes, use a blowtorch on skin to cause maximum torture, etc.

No matter what you're talking about, there will always be someone that doesn't approve.

I am in favor of capital punishment in special cases. Personally, I think I'd probably prefer being executed to being made a caged slave for life. Then again, I'm not planning on doing anything which would provoke either.

That said, I am not in favor of lethal injection. I think it is a perversion of medical practice and a violation of basic medical oaths. An execution should seem like an execution and not a minor medical procedure. Especially not a torturous and time-consuming medical procedure. As a society, we have to be better than those we feel we must remove.

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Originally Posted by Amelia G

I am in favor of capital punishment in special cases. Personally, I think I'd probably prefer being executed to being made a caged slave for life. Then again, I'm not planning on doing anything which would provoke either.

That said, I am not in favor of lethal injection. I think it is a perversion of medical practice and a violation of basic medical oaths. An execution should seem like an execution and not a minor medical procedure. Especially not a torturous and time-consuming medical procedure. As a society, we have to be better than those we feel we must remove.

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How do you feel about Dr. Kevorkian getting out of prison yesterday after 8 years?
Do you think he should have spent more? Less? Life? He claims he is going to start supporting anti-help assisted suicides now.

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Originally Posted by VoldtaEngler

How do you feel about Dr. Kevorkian getting out of prison yesterday after 8 years?
Do you think he should have spent more? Less? Life? He claims he is going to start supporting anti-help assisted suicides now.

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What is anti-help?

Although assisted suicide is a problematic issue from a legal perspective, I do not in my heart believe that Kevorkian should have spent one single day behind bars, much less eight years and losing his right to practice medicine.

The oath is to first do no harm. I do not believe that helping someone end their pain is doing harm. I believe that punishing someone for wrongdoing, no matter how heinous, is doing harm.

If I were living in daily agony, unable to take my own life, but able to communicate my desire to stop the pain, I would hope there would be someone who loved me enough to carry out my wishes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Amelia G

I am in favor of capital punishment in special cases. Personally, I think I'd probably prefer being executed to being made a caged slave for life. Then again, I'm not planning on doing anything which would provoke either.

That said, I am not in favor of lethal injection. I think it is a perversion of medical practice and a violation of basic medical oaths. An execution should seem like an execution and not a minor medical procedure. Especially not a torturous and time-consuming medical procedure. As a society, we have to be better than those we feel we must remove.

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Is there a method of execution you feel would achieve this goal? The irony I see is that I think a lot of people like the appearance of a "humane" execution more than the reality (which may be visually more macabre).

OEC

ok far i know , when i first heard bout this on the day they ex'ed him and they said he was 365 pounds ,and a ex intravienous drug user and thats 1 reason they could'nt find his veins , me id rather he did the 80,000 volt jig save the drugs for the peeps the really need them. and he was there for what any ways , and then kills a guy over a chess game ........ drugs r too good for that POS

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Originally Posted by OneEyedCat

Is there a method of execution you feel would achieve this goal? The irony I see is that I think a lot of people like the appearance of a "humane" execution more than the reality (which may be visually more macabre).

OEC

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I know, big surprise that the goth girl thinks macabre would be okay. ;) I don't think a just society should participate in torture murder, but that doesn't mean that torture murder becomes more okay, so long as it is, you know, tidy. I honestly feel the medical context of lethal injection is offensive on an important human level, as well as a larger societal one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Amelia G

I know, big surprise that the goth girl thinks macabre would be okay. ;) I don't think a just society should participate in torture murder, but that doesn't mean that torture murder becomes more okay, so long as it is, you know, tidy. I honestly feel the medical context of lethal injection is offensive on an important human level, as well as a larger societal one.

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I agree with that. I won't go too far off on a death and society tangent, but I do wonder if lethal injection arose as people simply did not want to face up to what was actually being done. This is death. It ain't pretty. It could be less painful for the prisoners were folks to simply accept that. If they can't? We should just abolish the death penalty.

OEC

As an Amnesty International member and a European I am against the death penalty. The biblical eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth is outdated and obscene.

i say firing squad with rpgs

To be honest, I wish we still had the Death Penalty over here. Technically, all we can be sentenced to death for is treason.

We need to have a deterrant for the true sick bastards out there. The people that have killed people in cold blood, and have been proved guilty without a doubt.

OT: Did anyone see a bit of irony and dark humor in Bush's condemnation of how the Iraqis executed Saddam? The man's neck snapped instantly. They yelled Muqtada! He suffered less than he would have via this "medical procedure".

OEC (I'll have more to say on this death gig another time)

It seems that you would kind of think of the persons size while deciding how much to inject someone with...an anestesiologist doesnt just say "eh...that looks about right"