Alabama is pausing the use of the execution method after two botched attempts, but physicians need to refuse to ever participate in making them possible. Lethal injection is not a medical act, but it impersonates one. The method of judicial execution works by shuttling medicines, repurposed as poison, directly into a vein via an intravenous catheter. Intravenous use is a ubiquitous method for drug and fluid delivery that most anyone might recognize, either by direct experience when sick or by observation in others when others are sick. According to the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, punishment cannot be cruel, and when lethal injection causes death, the outward result can be extraordinarily mild and bloodless. I speak from experience. As a physician, I was invited by Georgia prisoner Marcus Wellons to watch his execution on June 17, 2014. Lethal injection is a highly curated event; even my medical trained eye could detect very little. Wellons died quietly and quickly. I’ve
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➤ Clemency
2019. USA. Director: Chinonye Chukwu. Writer: Chinonye Chukwu. Cast: Alfre Woodard, Richard Schiff, Aldis Hodge. Running time: 1h52
Synopsis: Bernadine Williams, a Death Row prison warden whose job has taken a psychological toll on her, must confront her demons when she has to execute another inmate. (Imdb)
"There’s little room to breathe in writer-director Chinonye Chukwu’s constricting, devastating drama Clemency, an intentionally airless film processing a tough subject through an unusual viewpoint. It was the deserved big winner at Sundance this year, making Chukwu the first black woman to win the Grand Jury prize. Our protagonist is prison warden Bernadine (Alfre Woodard), first seen as she prepares for an execution, methodically going through her mental checklist with calm professionalism while keeping emotions at bay. It might be her 12th but experience only seems to make the process that much harder, a growing awareness that the system she’s a part of might not be something she truly believes in. Any back-burner doubt she might have had soon turns into something far less avoidable after she bears witness to a horrifyingly botched lethal injection. Bernadine is sent into an inner tailspin as she confronts her guilt while also prepping for the next execution, this time for an inmate who insists he’s innocent." (The Guardian, Benjamin Lee)
➤ The Current War
2017. USA. Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. Writer: Michael Mitnick. Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Oliver Powell, Katherine Waterston. Running time: 1h42
Synopsis: The dramatic story of the cutthroat race between electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to determine whose electrical system would power the modern world.
This race incidentally led to the invention and the use of the electric chair as a "humane" way to execute death-row inmates. The first execution took about eight minutes. George Westinghouse later commented that, "They would have done better using an axe."
As Edison expanded his direct current (DC) power delivery system, he received stiff competition from companies installing alternating current (AC) systems. From the early 1880s, AC arc lighting systems for streets and large spaces had been an expanding business in the US. With the development of transformers in Europe and by Westinghouse Electric in the US in 1885–1886, it became possible to transmit AC long distances over thinner and cheaper wires, and "step down" the voltage at the destination for distribution to users. This allowed AC to be used in street lighting and in lighting for small business and domestic customers, the market Edison's patented low voltage DC incandescent lamp system was designed to supply. Edison's DC empire suffered from one of its chief drawbacks. Edison's DC plants could not deliver electricity to customers more than one mile from the plant, and left a patchwork of unsupplied customers between plants. Small cities and rural areas could not afford an Edison style system at all, leaving a large part of the market without electrical service.
AC companies expanded into this gap. Edison expressed views that AC was unworkable and the high voltages used were dangerous. As George Westinghouse installed his first AC systems in 1886, Thomas Edison struck out personally against his chief rival stating, "Just as certain as death, Westinghouse will kill a customer within six months after he puts in a system of any size."
Edison took advantage of the public perception of AC as dangerous, and joined with self-styled New York anti-AC crusader Harold P. Brown in a propaganda campaign, aiding Brown in the public electrocution of animals with AC, and supported legislation to control and severely limit AC installations and voltages (to the point of making it an ineffective power delivery system) in what was now being referred to as a "battle of currents".
The development of the electric chair was used in an attempt to portray AC as having a greater lethal potential than DC and smear Westinghouse at the same time via Edison colluding with Brown and Westinghouse's chief AC rival, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, to make sure the first electric chair was powered by a Westinghouse AC generator.
The first person in line to die under New York's new electrocution law was William Kemmler, convicted of murdering his wife with a hatchet. Kemmler was executed in New York's Auburn Prison on August 6, 1890; the "state electrician" was Edwin F. Davis. The first 17-second passage of 1,000 volts AC of current through Kemmler caused unconsciousness, but failed to stop his heart and breathing. The attending physicians, Edward Charles Spitzka and Carlos F. MacDonald, came forward to examine Kemmler. After confirming Kemmler was still alive, Spitzka reportedly called out, "Have the current turned on again, quick, no delay." The generator needed time to re-charge, however. In the second attempt, Kemmler received a 2,000 volt AC shock. Blood vessels under the skin ruptured and bled, and the areas around the electrodes singed. The entire execution took about eight minutes. George Westinghouse later commented that, "They would have done better using an axe", and a witnessing reporter claimed that it was "an awful spectacle, far worse than hanging". (Wikipedia)
➤ Just Mercy
2019. USA. Director: Destin Daniel Cretton. Writer: Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham. Cast: Jamie Foxx, Charlie Pye Jr., Michael Harding. Running time: 2h17
Synopsis: "Just Mercy" tells the true story of Walter McMillian, who, with the help of young defense attorney Bryan Stevenson, appealed his murder conviction. The film is based on the memoir of the same name, written by Stevenson.
In 1989, idealistic young Harvard law graduate Bryan Stevenson travels to Alabama hoping to help fight for poor people who cannot afford proper legal representation. He meets with Eva Ansley and founds the Equal Justice Initiative, then travels to a prison to meet its death row inmates. He meets Walter "Johnny D." McMillian, an African-American man who was convicted of the 1986 murder of Ronda Morrison, a white woman.
Stevenson looks over the evidence in the case and discovers it hinges entirely on the testimony of convicted felon Ralph Myers, who provided highly self-contradictory testimony in exchange for a lighter sentence in his own pending trial.
Stevenson approaches Myers, who eventually admits that his testimony was coerced after police played to his fear of being burned and threatened to have him executed by electric chair. Stevenson appeals to the local court to grant McMillan a retrial and successfully convinces Myers to recant his testimony on the stand, but the judge nevertheless refuses to grant a retrial. Distraught, Stevenson vents his frustrations about the case to Ansley. He appears on 60 Minutes to rally public support in favor of McMillan, then appeals to the Supreme Court of Alabama. The Supreme Court overturns the circuit court's decision, and grants McMillan his retrial. (Wikipedia)
Alabama is pausing the use of the execution method after two botched attempts, but physicians need to refuse to ever participate in making them possible. Lethal injection is not a medical act, but it impersonates one. The method of judicial execution works by shuttling medicines, repurposed as poison, directly into a vein via an intravenous catheter. Intravenous use is a ubiquitous method for drug and fluid delivery that most anyone might recognize, either by direct experience when sick or by observation in others when others are sick. According to the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, punishment cannot be cruel, and when lethal injection causes death, the outward result can be extraordinarily mild and bloodless. I speak from experience. As a physician, I was invited by Georgia prisoner Marcus Wellons to watch his execution on June 17, 2014. Lethal injection is a highly curated event; even my medical trained eye could detect very little. Wellons died quietly and quickly. I’ve
Kevin Johnson executed for the 2005 murder of a Kirkwood police officer A Missouri inmate convicted of ambushing and killing a St. Louis area police officer he blamed in the death of his younger brother was executed Tuesday night. Kevin Johnson , 37, died after an injection of pentobarbital at the state prison in Bonne Terre. It was the state’s 2nd execution this year and the 17th nationally. 2 more executions are scheduled in Missouri for the first few weeks of 2023. Johnson’s attorneys didn’t deny that he killed Officer William McEntee in 2005, but contended he was sentenced to death in part because he is Black. The courts and Republican Gov. Mike Parson declined to stop the execution. McEntee, 43, was a 20-year veteran of the police department in Kirkwood. A husband and father of three, he was among the officers sent to Johnson’s home on July 5, 2005, to serve a warrant for his arrest. Johnson was on probation for assaulting his girlfriend, and police believed he had violated pr
Montgomery, Alabama — Alabama won't seek another lethal injection date for an inmate whose September execution had been halted because of problems establishing an intravenous line , according to the terms of a settlement agreement approved on Monday. The state agreed to never use lethal injection again as an execution method to put Alan Eugene Miller to death. Any future effort to execute Miller will be done by nitrogen hypoxia, an execution method authorized in Alabama, but one that has never been used to carry out a death sentence in the U.S. There is currently no protocol in place for using nitrogen hypoxia. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr. approved the settlement agreement in a lawsuit brought by Miller seeking to prevent another lethal injection attempt. Miller had argued that the state lost paperwork stating he picked nitrogen hypoxia as his execution method and then subjected him to torture during the failed execution attempt. At the time, Miller&#
Officials forced shocked residents of Hyesen city near the border with China to watch the firing at an airfield Terrified residents expressed grave shock as North Korean authorities publicly executed three teenagers by firing including two who allegedly watched and distributed South Korean movies, says a report. A third teenager was accused of murdering his stepmother, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on Dec. 2 quoting witnesses. The officials in the ultra-communist pariah state have claimed that the crimes committed by teens aged around 16 or 17 were “equally evil” and forced the shocked residents of Hyesen city near the border with China to watch the firing. “They said, ‘Those who watch or distribute South Korean movies and dramas, and those who disrupt social order by murdering other people, will not be forgiven and will be sentenced to the maximum penalty: death,’” said a local resident. The execution took place in October at an airfield in the city, the resident said. “Hyesan reside
CAIRO (AP) — Iranian authorities executed four people Sunday accused of working for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, the state-run IRNA news agency said. Three others received lengthy prison sentences. IRNA said the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard announced the arrests of a network of people linked to the Israeli agency. It said the members had previous criminal records and tried to disrupt the country's security. Israel and Iran are regional arch-enemies and Iran occasionally announces the detention of people it says are spying for foreign countries, including the United States and Israel. Iran does not recognize Israel and supports anti-Israeli armed groups across the region, such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Network members stole and destroyed private and public property and kidnapped individuals and interrogated them, according to the report. It said the alleged spies had weapons and received wages from Mossad in the form of cryptocurrency. Iranian authorities provided no
Kenneth Eugene Smith, the man who survived Alabama’s latest execution attempt, is claiming in a new court filing he was strapped to a gurney for 4 hours, injected with an unknown substance and poked with needles until the state eventually called off the execution just before midnight. Smith, 57, was set to die by lethal injection on Nov. 17 at William C. Holman Correctional Facility. The prison, located in Atmore, is the only state facility with an execution chamber. He was going to be executed for his role in the 1988 murder-for-hire of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, a pastor’s wife from Colbert County who was fatally stabbed and beaten. Gov. Kay Ivey has since ordered a moratorium on executions pending an internal review of the state’s execution process. A Friday court filing from Smith’s attorneys detailed his account of what happened the night of the set execution. Around 7:45 p.m., the filing states, Smith was on the phone with his wife while waiting on the U.S. Court of Appeals for t
The Dec. 15 execution of Gerald Pizzuto Jr. has been delayed, as the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) doesn’t have the chemicals to carry it out. Pizzuto was convicted in the 1985 murders of a woman and her nephew in Idaho County. IDOC served Pizzuto with a death warrant earlier this month, after the Idaho Supreme Court upheld Gov. Brad Little’s decision to overturn a recommendation for Pizzuto’s clemency, issued by the Commission on Pardons and Parole last year. On Nov. 16, the same day it issued the warrant, IDOC said it did not have the chemicals needed to carry out Pizzuto’s execution and was working on securing them. On Monday, Pizzuto’s lawyers with the Federal Defender Services of Idaho said IDOC had missed its own deadline – 20 days before an execution – to obtain the drugs it planned on using. An IDOC spokesperson declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation. On Wednesday, IDOC notified the court it still did not have the chemicals necessary to carry out the execution o
The Jiangxi Provincial High People's Court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence handed down to Lao Rongzhi for her involvement in the deaths of seven people. The high court heard her appeal in August, nearly a year after the sentence was handed down by the Intermediate People's Court of Nanchang, Jiangxi. In addition to receiving the death penalty, Lao had her political rights stripped and all of her property confiscated for her role in the crimes, which also included robbery and kidnapping. The high court said that Lao and her ex-boyfriend, Fa Ziying, intentionally and illegally took the lives of others; used violence or threats for the purpose of gaining illegal possession of others' property; and kidnapped others for the purpose of extorting money or property. The two deliberately killed seven people, including a man during a home robbery and another they had kidnapped. The circumstances of their crimes were egregious, and their methods were particularly cruel, the hig
A Utah judge has granted a new trial to death-row prisoner Douglas Carter, finding that prosecutors knowingly withheld from the defense evidence that police coerced false testimony from two key witnesses, coached them to lie, provided them “thousands of dollars in financial benefits” to implicate Carter, and threatened them with deportation and loss of their son if they did not cooperate. Carter, who is black, was charged with murdering a white woman, Eva Oleson, who was the aunt of the Provo City Police Department police chief. No physical evidence linked him to the crime. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in 1985 based upon a confession to police that Carter said was false and coerced and the testimony of two witness, Epifanio and Lucia Tovar, who were in the country illegally and claimed Carter had confessed to the murder. Epifanio testified at the trial that Carter had come to him prior to committing the crime and told him that he intended to “rape, break, and drive,”
People arrested for widespread anti-government demonstrations have been sentenced to death on various charges In Iran, protests triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police continue unabated. Since the unrest began in late September, thousands of people have been arrested. Many have been prosecuted in courts or are still on trial, with at least 11 death sentences handed down so far. In the first case on Oct. 29, a man identified as Mohammad Qabadlo was accused of “corruption on earth” by a special Revolutionary Court in the capital Tehran presided over by Justice Abolqasem Salavati, according to details issued by the prosecutor’s office. Despite the outcry in Iran over Qabadlo’s trial, five people were sentenced to death in Tehran less than a month later, as reported on Nov. 20 by Mizan News Agency, an outlet affiliated with the country’s judiciary. On the same day, the agency confirmed a sixth person was handed the death pen
