Posted on 01/06/2008 8:34:37 AM PST by kellynla
The future of the death penalty will be in the hands of the Supreme Court tomorrow when the justices hear arguments in a closely watched case that tests the constitutionality of execution by lethal injection.
The case, brought by two death-row inmates in Kentucky who are challenging the three-drug cocktail used to kill prisoners, already has led Texas — the nation's leader in executions — and other states to halt executions until the high court decides the Kentucky case.
When Oklahoma first authorized lethal injection in 1977 — a year after the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment was constitutional and reinstated the death penalty — the drug-induced death was seen as the most humane means of executing prisoners.
But lethal injection is now under mounting scrutiny nationwide. Even before the Supreme Court's decision in September to hear the Kentucky case, states were convening panels to study the technique because of concerns that it could inflict excruciating pain on the condemned.
At issue is the precise combination of the three drugs used in the 29 states that use them. Generally, prisoners are first administered a fast-acting anesthesia known as sodium thiopental — or pentothal — followed by the paralytic pancuronium bromide, which does not block pain but prevents voluntary muscle movement. Finally, they are injected with potassium chloride, which stops the heart from beating.
Lawyers on both sides of the Kentucky case agree that if the drugs are administered properly — and the anesthesia sodium thiopental works correctly — a prisoner's death would be painless. They also agree that without a sufficient supply of the anesthetic, potassium chloride could cause horrific burning pain. An inmate paralyzed by the second drug — the pancuronium bromide — would be unable to alert anyone that the anesthesia wasn't working.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The anti-capital punishment folks arguing that lethal injection is unconstitutional because it can hurt the condemned. Nice.
How about a nice quick firing squad at close range with mounted rifles and no blanks?
Thats probably about as close to painless as you can get.
Shouldn’t that be left up to the people and the states?
Just shoot them in the head. It’s cheaper, faster and “humane” considering what they did to other HUMAN BEINGS to get this punishment. Why we want to coddle murdering monsters is beyond me ... .
There are some crimes for which anything but the death penalty is immoral.
Here’s an idea- how about letting them die in the exact same way their victims died. Think there’d be a constitutional issue there?
Put the condemned prisoner in a close cell and, attach a hose to the warden's Buick exhaust pipe and put the other end of the hose in the cell while the condemned is sleeping. They will never wake up. Dead and gone with no pain at all!
There, fixed it! Problem solved.
Except if it actually happened the libs would turn around and sue the warden for causing global warming.
And the problem with this is?
I never understood why this was such a difficult problem to solve.
There are literally hundreds of toxic substances that will knock a person out before he even knows what hit him. A moderate concentration of carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, or chloroform, introduced through a breathing mask, will render him unconscious within seconds and dead within minutes. Fast, painless, and effective.
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