The stupid controversy over whether lethal injections are painful and therefore unconstitutionally curel and unusual punishment has affected three inmates on federal death row in Terre Haute, reports the Tribune-Star:
Three federal death row inmates who contend in a lawsuit that lethal injections are painful have been granted a stay of execution, court records show.
U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle ordered a preliminary injunction Feb. 24, barring the Bureau of Prisons from executing James H. Roane Jr., Richard Tipton and Cory Johnson.
The three co-defendants had been scheduled to die in May at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, home to the nation's federal death row. The trio were sentenced to die after being convicted in a string of drug-related murders in Richmond, Va.
[. . .]
This case marks at least the sixth since January in which executions have been delayed after inmates have raised legal challenges about the lethal injection process, according to information on Death Penalty Information Center's Web site.
At least six other men, included one from Indiana, have been executed in the same time period.
The injunction in the federal death case is indefinite, until further order of the court.
I don't care how painful lethal injections are -- it's a very short burst of it before the long sleep and much less agonizing than the previous methods of executiuon used. This is just one more in a long string of objections raised by people who are against the death penalty in all cases in all its forms. (See tonight's Evening Forum, by the way, for an editorial on the need to dispatch Simon Rios to the long sleep.)
We need to look at this short burst of pain, if it exists, philosophically, as one last chance to get the killer's attention: "Owww! Man, did I screw up."
(Via the Indiana Law Blog)
Comments
Personally, I think this is the most absurd thing to be focusing on, ... convicts condemned to die are so lucky we are (generally) a society with a conscious, ...
The only REAL shame is that with perps that kill more than one person...WE (the judicial system) can *only* kill THEM once. That's hardly fair for the victims or their families.
I say don't even bother with a STERILE needle for the injection...we're not practicing euthanasia on a beloved pet...we're sending a conviced killer to his just reward.
But then again...we could always go back to a penal system that practices ACTUAL rehabilitaion and penitence...
Send the RIGHT messages...and capital crimes WILL go down. To do otherwise invites more jails, more legal loopholes, more appeals, and more money out of OUR pockets.
Where IS Judge Roy Bean when you need him ?
Bob G.
The only REAL shame is that with perps that kill more than one person...WE (the judicial system) can *only* kill THEM once. That's hardly fair for the victims or their families.
I say don't even bother with a STERILE needle for the injection...we're not practicing euthanasia on a beloved pet...we're sending a convicted killer to his just reward.
But then again...we could always go back to a penal system that practices ACTUAL rehabilitaion and penitence...
Send the RIGHT messages...and capital crimes WILL go down. To do otherwise invites more jails, more legal loopholes, more appeals, and more money out of OUR pockets.
Where IS Judge Roy Bean when you need him ?
Bob G.
Sorry for the double post....didn't mean to "stutter"...lol!
Bob G.
hang'em high! to quote a clint eastwood movie title...
you know, lethal injection is so expensive- why line the pockets of the pharmaceutical comapnies. how about carbon monoxide? Mr Blaich showed it works well, either accidentally or on purpose.
and "lead poisoning" is cheap, too, and the bullet to the brain can be melted down, and re-used.
and what ever happened to the old reliable hemp rope "hangmans nose?
you know, there is a pavilion at the old ACJ "jailhouse flats", and a flagpole, with room for 3 at a time, and i can name at least 3 or more inmates who really really deserve it, if our "allen county prostitutor"; bimbo lawyer barbie was competent to try death penalty cases..( so instead, we end up having to pay for their sorry death row lives- money to spend on our kids, or at least a lot of cold beers, and cherrymasters...)
- site of many hangings for heinous crimes.
hemp rope and gravity is environmentally sound- gravity always works. the noose, most of the time, if the hangman does his math right...
it doesnt pollute, like a gas chamber does. it is assuredly fatal. and reusable.
and best of all, when the hemp rope has reached the end of its useful life, you can smoke it... (just kidding...!?)
"smack that horse on the ass, and my last dying gasp, my brother could hear me say...
"eddie money"- give me some water"
give them a good fair trial, then hang 'em.