That's the title of an editorial published in the Sunday Gainesville Sun.
Happ's execution was the first in the United States to use a new drug in the lethal injection process. Happ remained conscious longer and made more body movements after losing consciousness than most inmates executed under the old combination of drugs, according to media witnesses.
Florida's experimentation with the drug is just the latest example of its haphazard manner of conducting executions. Its failure to conduct humane executions peels back the sanitized image of the lethal-injection process, which keeps society from facing the ethical conflicts of state-sponsored killing.
And:
Florida's history of botched executions gives cause for concern. The state stopped using the electric chair after flames shot from the heads of two inmates and blood flowed from the face of another.
The state faced other problems after it switched to lethal injection. In 2007, the failure to properly insert IVs caused lethal drugs to slowly seep into the flesh of an inmate. He appeared to writhe in pain as his execution took twice as long as normal.
The state subsequently went through the dog-and-pony show of a commission that studied the lethal-injection process. While improvements were made, the new drug's use shows the state is again making risky choices in executions.
Earlier coverage of Florida lethal injection issues begins at the link.
Comments