Bring Back the Guillotine
I see that a federal judge has ordered a moratorium on executions in my state until Missouri can “ensure that inmates do not suffer excruciating pain when they are put to death“:
Missouri Corrections Director Larry Crawford said in a hearing before [U.S. District Judge Fernando] Gaitan two weeks ago that he would clarify the execution protocol. He testified after learning that the surgeon who is the sole person in charge of mixing the drugs had prepared a lower-than-expected dose of anesthesia for the last several inmates who were put to death.
The surgeon testified he had been administering 2.5 grams of thiopental, which is supposed to render the inmate unconscious and is the first of the three drugs Missouri uses in executions. Gaitan ordered the state to use at least double that amount.
Gaitan, who sits on the federal bench in Kansas City, also said he was concerned about the dyslexia of the surgeon, whose identity is a closely held secret. Someone else administers the drugs.
“The court is gravely concerned that a physician who is solely responsible for correctly mixing the drugs … has a condition which causes him confusion with regard to numbers,” Gaitan wrote.
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The anesthesiologist must ensure the inmate has achieved “sufficient anesthetic depth” before receiving the final two drugs, which paralyze the inmate and stop the inmate’s heart. The heart-stopping drug, potassium chloride, causes excruciating pain.
That does seem kind of barbaric; but, you know, capital punishment is like that.
I write this with tongue only slightly in cheek: As far as I’m concerned, as long as the state remains in the execution business, the condemned should be beheaded in the public square. State-sanctioned killing should not be made palatable for the benefit of the squeamish.
Human jurors err. That fact alone should consign this practice to history. That won’t happen until the public fully appreciates the consequences of a death sentence.
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