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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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Georgia executes Brandon Rhode

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Brandon Rhode
Brandon Joseph Rhode was put to death Monday night by lethal injection at the state prison at Jackson. The 31-year-old man was pronounced dead at 10:16 p.m. by prison officials.

Rhode declined to speak any last words or have a final prayer.

Rhode's execution had been set for 7 p.m. but was pushed back several hours as corrections officials waited for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide on his plea for a stay of execution. The court rejected appeals later that night.

Medics then tried for about 30 minutes to find a vein to inject the three-drug concoction.

The prisoner's eyes darted around the room before the lethal mixture began coursing through his veins. Within minutes he was staring blankly at the ceiling of the death chamber. Moments before Rhode was pronounced dead he turned his head, exposing a bandage over the part of his neck he slashed.

It took 14 minutes for the lethal dose to kill him.

The U.S. Supreme Court had earlier denied an appeal claiming that Rhode was subjected to inhumane treatment and was not mentally competent to be executed. The nation's high court on Monday rejected pleas for a stay.

He was convicted in 2000 of the killings of Steven Moss, 37, his 11-year-old son Bryan and 15-year-old daughter Kristin during a burglary of their Jones County home. His coconspirator, Daniel Lucas, was also sentenced to death in a separate trial and he remains on death row.

His execution was pushed back several times after his Sept. 21 suicide attempt.

Rhode becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Georgia and the 48th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983.

Rhode becomes the 40th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1228th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Source: AP, Rick Halperin, September 27, 2010
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