Today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram carries the editorial, "Texas' switch in execution drugs warrants proper review."
A state-administered execution isn't supposed to inflict as much pain and horror on the convicted killer as the victim felt.
The system is called "criminal justice," not "revenge and retribution," for a reason.
Texas prison officials need to do more than take Oklahoma's word for it that swapping one of the three drugs used for lethal injections won't increase the procedure's inhumaneness. The state should step back and evaluate the new regimen carefully and independently before conducting more executions.
After all, replacing a death penalty drug isn't like switching to a generic when the pharmacy runs out of, say, a brand-name allergy medicine.
Executions, once carried out, are final; they're meant to be.
Because they are the taking of life in the name of the people of Texas, executions must be conducted according to precisely drawn rules and procedures and as mistake-free as possible.
And:
Whether Foster is guilty or not, as long as Texas employs capital punishment, it's essential that it be carried out according to deliberate rules, not hurriedly to just get it over with. Victims, their relatives and society at large are done no favors by a system that cuts corners.
As Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in 1958, "The basic concept underlying the Eighth Amendment is nothing less than the dignity of man. While the State has the power to punish, the Amendment stands to assure that this power be exercised within the limits of civilized standards."
The Houston Chronicle editorial is, "State secrets: Why are Texas authorities in such a hurry to execute this prisoner?"
Texas inmate Cleve Foster is due to be executed this evening, but we hope that Gov. Rick Perry will grant him the 30-day reprieve his attorneys have requested — not a pardon, not a commutation, just 30 days to answer a lot of troubling questions.
This is not about Foster's guilt or innocence. It's about the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and its unconscionable delays, secrecy and potential illegalities in implementing the first substantive change to its execution protocol since 1982.
And:
Yesterday, Foster's lawyers asked Perry for a 30-day reprieve, citing "serious concerns" at the timing of the decision, which was made "behind closed doors, without public input and with cursory and one-sided consideration of the benefits and risks."
They have ample cause to believe so. As reported by the Texas Tribune, public documents showed that TDCJ officials did not consult medical or pharmaceutical professionals, but relied on news and online accounts of another state's recent use of pentobarbital in making their decision to switch.
Other newly released documents showed that TDCJ's registration number under which execution drugs are purchased — a critical element of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's ability to monitor the purchase and use of controlled substances — is registered to the Huntsville Unit Hospital, which has been closed since 1983.
In a recent letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, co-counsels Maurie Levin and Sandra Babcock argued that these substances are not being received by a hospital, or kept by any medical facilities, but by unauthorized prison personnel. "The potential for abuse is rampant," they wrote.
As the letter states, the requested reprieve "is in the interest of all who believe in the importance of open government."
Earlier coverage begins at the link; updated news coverage in the next post.
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