Nebraska | Opponents of death penalty decry proposal to use nitrogen gas for executions

They claim it’s ‘untested, dangerous and inhumane,’ while a proponent calls it ‘painless’ and not subject to shortages

LINCOLN — A proposal to use nitrogen gas to carry out executions in Nebraska brought out a parade of opponents to capital punishment on Wednesday.

Opponents, ranging from the ACLU of Nebraska to the Nebraska Nurses Association, called using suffocation via nitrogen gas “untested, dangerous and explicitly inhumane” during a public hearing before the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee.

They pointed out that even the American Veterinary Medicine Association has ruled out nitrogen hypoxia in euthanizing pets because “animals may experience distressing side effects before loss of consciousness.”

Almost every opponent said that adopting a different method of execution — one billed as “painless” — wouldn’t change their opposition to capital punishment.

“Nebraska’s history with the death penalty has been a saga long on politics, public debate, concurrent litigation, and short on results,” said Spike Eickholt, who lobbies for two anti-death penalty groups.

“There is no reason to perpetuate this saga by altering the method of execution,” he added.

Lethal injection drugs held back

State Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City introduced the nitrogen hypoxia measure, Legislative Bill 970.

Lippincott said that capital punishment is the law in Nebraska but that because of the refusal of pharmaceutical companies to provide the drugs used in lethal injections, another method must be found.

Obtaining nitrogen gas would not be a problem, Lippincott said.

In January, Alabama used nitrogen gas for the first time in the nation to execute a convicted murderer.

Oklahoma, Mississippi and Missouri also allow nitrogen hypoxia, Lippincott said, and the states of Ohio and Louisiana are considering bills to allow it.

He compared it to “putting to sleep” a sickly pet via euthanasia.

‘As painless and humane as possible’

“My primary desire is to make it as painless and humane as possible,” Lippincott said.

He read a letter of support for the procedure from the Alabama attorney general, who said it would eliminate the “guerrilla warfare” facing the various other forms of executions.

But two senators on the Judiciary Committee, Terrell McKinney of Omaha and Carol Blood of Bellevue, disputed that nitrogen hypoxia was painless.

Blood said eyewitnesses to the Alabama execution reported that the condemned inmate “gasped for air” and that his body shook and his fist clenched in the 22 minutes before he was declared dead.

McKinney, who has introduced bills to repeal the death penalty, questioned why nitrogen hypoxia should be used in executions if it had been ruled out for euthanizing pets.

Lippincott responded that it’s probably harder to fit a mask on the face of a dog or cat to administer the gas.

Study suggested first

McKinney said very little research had been done on this form of execution and asked Lippincott why he didn’t consider seeking a study of nitrogen hypoxia first.

That, the Central City senator said, would be something for the Judiciary Committee to decide.

No one testified in person in favor of LB 970. Nebraska last carried out an execution in 2018, when double-murderer Carey Dean Moore was put to death via lethal injection — the state’s first execution in 21 years.

Since then, state officials have said Nebraska lacks the drugs needed to impose capital punishment. Eleven men currently sit on death row in the state.

State lawmakers repealed the death penalty in 2015, but Nebraska voters restored capital punishment in 2016 by approving a referendum backed by then-Gov. Pete Ricketts and his family.

Among those testifying against LB 970 on Wednesday were the Nebraska Catholic Conference, Nebraskans for Peace, the League of Women Voters of Nebraska and Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Sixty-six letters of opposition to the bill were submitted, compared to two letters in favor.

The Judiciary Committee took no action on LB 970 after the public hearing. Because the bill has no priority designation from a senator or a committee, it’s doubtful it will come up for debate this year.

Source: nebraskaexaminer.com, Paul Hammel, February 28, 2024

_____________________________________________________________________

Twitter/X | Facebook | Telegram | Contact Us

SUPPORT DEATH PENALTY NEWS

Buy Me a Coffee!

Florida executes Michael Tanzi

Florida on Tuesday executed a death row inmate described by one local detective as a "fledgling serial killer" for the murder of a beloved Miami Herald employee. Florida executed Michael Tanzi on Tuesday, 25 years after the murder of beloved Miami Herald employee Janet Acosta, who was attacked in broad daylight on her lunch break in 2000. Michael Tanzi, 48, was executed by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Raiford and pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. ET.

South Carolina | Man who ambushed off-duty cop to face firing squad in second execution of its kind

Mikal Mahdi, 48, who was found guilty of killing an off-duty police officer and a convenience store worker, is the second inmate scheduled to executed by South Carolina's new firing squad A murderer who ambushed and shot an off duty police officer eight times before burning his body in a killing spree is set to become the second person to die by firing squad. South Carolina's highest court has rejected the last major appeal from Mikal Mahdi, 41, who is to be put to death with three bullets to the heart at 6pm on April 11 at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia. Mahdi's lawyers said his original lawyers put on a shallow case trying to spare his life that didn't call on relatives, teachers or people who knew him and ignored the impact of weeks spent in solitary confinement in prison as a teen.

Afghanistan | Four men publicly executed by Taliban with relatives of victims shooting them 'six or seven times' at sport stadium

Four men have been publicly executed by the Taliban, with relatives of their victims shooting them several times in front of spectators at a sport stadium. Two men were shot around six to seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the centre of Afghanistan's Badghis province, witnesses told an AFP journalist in the city. The men had been 'sentenced to retaliatory punishment' for shooting other men, after their cases were 'examined very precisely and repeatedly', the statement said. 'The families of the victims were offered amnesty and peace but they refused.'

South Carolina executes Mikal Mahdi

Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers A man facing the death penalty for committing two murders was executed by firing squad on Friday, the second such execution in the US state of South Carolina this year. Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers, an off-duty police officer, and the murder of a convenience store employee three days earlier. According to a statement from the prison, "the execution was performed by a three-person firing squad at 6:01 pm (2201 GMT)," with Mahdi pronounced dead four minutes later.

USA | Why the firing squad may be making a comeback

South Carolina plans to execute Mikal Mahdi on Friday for the murder of a police officer, draping a hood over his head and firing three bullets into his heart. The choice to die by firing squad – rather than lethal injection or the electric chair – was Mahdi’s own, his attorney said last month: “Faced with barbaric and inhumane choices, Mikal Mahdi has chosen the lesser of three evils.” If it proceeds, Mahdi’s execution would be the latest in a recent string of events that have put the spotlight on the firing squad as a handful of US death penalty states explore alternatives to lethal injection, by far the nation’s dominant execution method.

Louisiana | Lawyers of Jessie Hoffman speak about their final moments before execution

As Louisiana prepared its first execution in 15 years, a team of lawyers from Loyola Law were working to save Jessie Hoffman’s life. “I was a young lawyer three years out of law school, and Jessie was almost finished with his appeals at that time, and my boss told me we needed to file something for Jessie because he’s in danger of being executed,” Kappel said. Kappel and her boss came up with a civil lawsuit to file that said since they wouldn’t give him a protocol for his execution, he was being deprived of due process, and the lawsuit was in the legal process for the next 10 years.

Lethal Injection, Electric Chair, or Firing Squad? An Inhumane Decision for Death Row Prisoners

South Carolina resumed executions with the firing squad killing of Brad Sigmon last month. Mikal Madhi’s execution date is days away. The curtain shrieked as it was yanked open to reveal a 67-year-old man tied to a chair. His arms were pulled uncomfortably behind his back. The red bull’s-eye target on his chest rose and fell as he desperately attempted to still his breathing. The man, Brad Sigmon, smiled at his attorney, Bo King, seated in the front row before guards placed a black bag over his head. King said Sigmon appeared to be trying his best to put on a brave face for those who had come to bear witness.

I spent 16 years in solitary in South Carolina. This is what it did to me. | Opinion

South Carolinian Randy Poindexter writes about the effects 16 years of solitary confinement had on him ahead of South Carolina’s planned execution of Mikal Mahdi , who spent months in solitary as a young man. For 16 years, I lived in a concrete cell. Twenty-three hours a day, every day, for more than 3,000 days, South Carolina kept me in solitary confinement. I was a young man before I was sent to solitary — angry, untreated and unwell. I made mistakes. But I wasn’t sentenced to madness. That’s what solitary did to me. My mental health worsened with each passing day. At first, paranoia and depression set in. Then, hallucinations and self-mutilation. I talked to people who weren’t there. I cut myself to feel something besides despair. I could do nothing as four of my friends and fellow prisoners took their own lives rather than endure another day of torturous isolation.

Arizona | The cruelty of isolation: There’s nothing ‘humane’ about how we treat the condemned

On March 19, I served as a witness to the execution of a man named Aaron Gunches, Arizona’s first since 2022. During his time on death row, he begged for death and was ultimately granted what is likely more appropriately described as an emotionless state-assisted suicide. This experience has profoundly impacted me, leading to deep reflection on the nature of death, humanity, and the role we play in our final moments. When someone is in the end stages of life, we talk about hospice care, comfort, care, easing suffering and humane death. We strive for a “good death” — a peaceful transition. I’ve seen good ones, and I’ve seen bad, unplanned ones.

Execution date set for prisoner transferred to Oklahoma to face death penalty

An inmate who was transferred to Oklahoma last month to face the death penalty now has an execution date. George John Hanson, also known as John Fitzgerald Hanson, is scheduled to die on June 12 for the 1999 murder of 77-year-old Mary Bowles. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Tuesday set the execution date. The state’s Pardon and Parole Board has a tentative date of May 7 for Hanson’s clemency hearing, executive director Tom Bates said.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog