Ohio Uses New Execution Method-One Drug Injection
By Brian Evans
December 7, in addition to being Pearl Harbor Day, is the day when, 27 years ago, Texas became the first state to kill a prisoner with lethal injection. Since then there have been over one thousand lethal injections in the US, all using the same basic three-drug protocol. Tuesday morning, Ohio changed that.
Kenneth Biros was the first inmate put to death by a one-drug lethal injection protocol. The drug is sodium thiopental, aka Sodium Pentothal (its Abbot Laboratories name), an anesthetic which, if taken in a massive dose, will cause death (though it will take longer than the three-drug method). In smaller doses it’s also famous, or infamous, as a dubious “truth serum.”
Lawyers for Biros argue that this one drug approach, which was developed on the fly in the aftermath of the botched Romell Broom execution on September 30, has not been adequately examined or tested and that using it now amounts to human experimentation.
Amnesty International views all executions, but whatever method, as inherently cruel, but it is worth pointing out that Ohio’s problems with lethal injection – struggling or being unable to find usable veins – have not been addressed by this new protocol, which still calls for the drug to be injected intravenously. There is a backup, Ohio has assured everyone, involving the injection of two different chemicals directly into a muscle: who is going to do that, and what sort of training they have been given in the last month or two, is unclear. Doctors in Ohio have consistently refused to participate in executions.
There is no need for Ohio to rush into this – indeed there is no need for Ohio to kill prisoners at all. But at the very least, Governor Strickland should declare a moratorium on executions to allow time for a thorough review of these new methods of state killing.
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Recently, I made a list of 15 'Capital Crimes',
felonies ranging from treason, murder , kidnappi
ng, rape ,counterfeiting, fraud, arson, armed ro
bbery, GTA, assault, third strike/declared habi
tual, sociopathic, pathological criminal, and 4
others. I also added gangstas [alien & domesti
c], and those who got themselves life so they c
ud run deadly gangs inside prisons ...These defe
ndents wud be tried by three judges in a non- ad
versarial 'investigatory' trial with no pleas,
deals, or tricks allowed. The judges wud hear
ALL the facts allowing both the prosecution and
defence to disclose ANYTHING that was true. At
the end of the trial, the 3 judges must decide:
1. Did the alleged crime occur? 2. Was the defe
ndent actually and truly involved? 3.Was the d
efendent guilty as charged [or of a lesser off
ence?] If of a lesser offence, he/she is sente
nced per guidelines...If guilty of any of the
'15', he is immediately escorted outside and
processed by the device shown in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File :Fallbeil_muen
chen_1854.jpg
It is positioned over a drain
and the splashguard is clear plexiglass and eq
uiped with water shower-heads...Due to the sur
ety of the machine, no official witnesses or
medical personnel are required...The ranking
CO in charge signs the DW and the clerk of the
court files the certificate...Periodically, all dangerous long-timers/recidvists/lifers/mu
ltiple-lifers/in- house killers/alien bangers/
etc. are 'reviewed' and 'processed' as they are a dangerous, useless, expensive drag on so
ciety. What we waste on them annually can be
better spent on healthcare / education /infrastru
cture--kill 'em all...Aaron Allen..
I think China has the right idea. Hey.....it's what we do to our animals at slaughter. It's quick. One bullet, one shooter. Even the drugs used by my vet (for horses) are not immediate. I would prefer an immediate method for animals and humans... and a correctly placed bullet is.
Paying for these criminals in jails for years has to go.
Hi Princesmom: While China has no problem in or
dering a member of their national police to act
ually sever the condemned's spinal cord by shoo
ting at the base of the neck, such a direct-kil
ling act might be difficult for even our most
caloused COs...A 100 pound plus, razor-sharp,
45 degree blade, falling 8-10 feet, does a good job of swiftly-dispatching badguys after
minutely examining ALL evidence--appellate act
ion is not required...It's not just the chow,
supervision, medical care, and petty sundries-
provision of the over 2 million cons that cost us an arm-n-leg: It is also the cost of cons
truction, operation, maintenance of our large
confinement facilities, staffing [in a few prisons 1 CO per 2-3 cons] and the cost of
constantly hiring/training/etc. of COs who may
not be able to stand the danger, hostility,
constant rule-breaking by inmates, and the gen erally negative nature of the work. While some COs 'love their job' for others it is like being a cop who encounters only badguys all
shift, every shift as they make their rounds
and respond to emergencies...The loco-crazy-
wicked-lowlives who never shud be paroled or
released shud be eliminated--and/or prevented by ending the breeding of 'rats-n-crabs'. Gen erations of these sociopaths have been created by neglegence--we gotta stop 'em and hopefully
save 'em thru enlightened and caring interve
ntion when they are very young and can be
'changed' positively...Aaron Allen...
What is the concern? Does the medication have any long term side effects? Like maybe long term death? I thought that was the whole point.
The thing that seems to get overlooked in these discussions it that when a person is too dangerous to be allowed to live, executing them is the point of the exercise . Why make such a big deal out of it? I believe the Chinese have the most humane and sure method. One shooter. One bullet. It works.
I worked in a prison for 17 months. I got to go home every night, satisfied that almost everyone there was getting what they deserved, except for the small percent that are probably innocent.
The lifers were miserable. They complained that the food was terrible (too bad - it is free for them), the beds were bad (no box springs - a metal platform and an inch thick foam mattress), no televisions in the cells (that's what max is all about folks), and no conjugal visits with women (hey, there's always the hand). One guy showed me a photo of the decayed body of his victim in a trash bag, hoping to get me upset. Being a clinical person that I am, I said, "Ooh look. Its a woman and she's had at least one child!" He never came back to see me. The white cons complained because there were so many "black" folk and it was really frightening. One guy had the nerve to ask me if I was Christian. I mean, where did his faith get him? Those killers suffer more with life in prison. It is worth every penny of the taxes that I pay for their upkeep.
I am not totally without feelings. I believed in one guy's innocence because I checked out his story. All of the news and detective reports stated that he was in the Army at the time of his criminal action. It was easy to check out. He was not. He was in high school more than a 1000 miles away. He got help.
Others, with long records did not. If my innocent guy was in for murder (he was not), and was executed that would have been terrible.
The money saved from executions could provide better health care and improved education for the innocent. Is the suffering of these criminals really worth a lack of health and educational opportunities for the innocent? Must the innocent be punished for the actions of criminals?
Thanks for the come back. Respects to you and your opinion. Do you have any idea how costly the appeals process for capital cases is? By the time the convicted person exhausts all appeals, they might as well be serving a life sentence. Some clever inmates can appeal until they die of natural causes. Thus, the cost of appeals is added to the cost of incarcerating them.
Of course, it might be argued that lifers appeal as well. They do. They're appeals are generally less costly, involve less time, and use fewer resources (as in setting up an execution , even giving the "dying person" a nice lobster dinner, paying a minister to guide him/her to the great beyond above or below, paying the extra personnel needed at the time of the execution, etc. only to have the execution postponed or cancelled).
Execution by lethal injection is done with ANESTHETICS??
Wow, so if I want assisted suicide I can just kill other people and die happy?
That makes sense.
The comment that the one drug injection will take longer to kill than the three drug method seems also to be void. I read that the execution took 11 minutes from the time of injection to the time of death - about the same as the three drug method (when done properly)
Looks like we have a real winner here with this new one drug method. It's a marketer's dream: Kill 'em just as fast, just as effectively as the old three drug combo (if not even more so!) with fewer complications and lower cost . What could be better?
I guess the objection to the one drug method that it hasn't be adequately tested on humans in now moot.
"Single drug executuion: Proven safe and effective!"
well...I dunno about "safe"....