Posted on 03/07/2018 7:49:13 AM PST by Morgana
FULL TITLE: Shocking new pictures lay bare Death Row inmate's injuries from botched execution he said was so painful that he just wanted doctors to 'get it over with'
A Death Row inmate wished for death during a botched execution that saw him stabbed 11 times in the legs and groin with needles.
Doyle Lee Hamm was due to be executed on February 22 for the murder of Patrick Cunningham, but the procedure had to be called off after doctors were unable to find a vein.
Hamm, who was too weak to stand after the ordeal, was left bleeding from the groin and urinated blood an hour later, a medical examiner's report says.
Bernard Harcourt, Hamm's attorney, had warned ahead of time that cancer treatment had left him with compromised veins and that he was likely to be subjected to 'cruel and needless pain.'
Harcourt has now launched a legal suit against the Alabama Department of Corrections, saying Hamm's treatment amounted to torture.
On Monday a medical examiner's report including new images of Hamm's injuries were filed which give an account of his suffering.
According to an interview with Hamm carried out by Dr Mark Heath, an anesthesiologist from New York, on the night of the execution he was taken into a chamber with around nine people inside and strapped down to a gurney.
Two men dressed in hospital scrubs then took a leg each and worked their way up attempting to find a vein.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
You're, right now, breathing a gas mixture which is 78% nitrogen. Nitrogen, in and of itself, does nothing to harm you. It does not disrupt your physiological functions. Hence, it is not toxic.
You're, right now, breathing a gas mixture which is 19% oxygen. That oxygen is required for your physiological functions to occur. If you are deprived of that oxygen, your physiological functions will cease: you will die.
Breathing 100% nitrogen deprives you of the necessary 19% oxygen, causing death. Hence, it is lethal.
Boo hoo! The poor boy got hurt and it’s “shocking”. Why not show pictures of what he did to his victim? Next time put him in front of a firing squad with 12 gauge shotguns at about 5’ away, that will do the job.
And over enthusiastic detectives and prosecutors withholding evidence. I believe in capital punishment under special circumstances when guilt is proved beyond a shadow of a doubt. With the decades of expensive appeals these guys get, it makes more sense to give some of them life.
You can purchase a suicide pill in Oregon for fifty bucks, works every time.
Pure nitrogen is best because it’s least impactful - and literally 80% of what everyone breathes anyway. Hardest to object to; anyone thinking that “inhumane” is just going to lead us to “yeah, whatever” and bill the family for the cartridge.
I’m perplexed by this. A few month’s back we had to put down one of our old pooches via lethal injection. This is probably the 5th or 6th event like this in our family - with zero incidences of “failure”.
Anyone know the failure rate of euthanizing pets/animals?
What is he still breathing for?
He should be OFF THE PLANET.
I was pretty angry after reading that. I believe in the rights of an accused as outlined, and I don’t believe in putting lawyers to death, but maybe as Shakespeare once suggested....
I have a major problem with endless appeals. Justice delayed is not justice.
But...I am warming to your suggestion!
This is not rocket science.
It requires no poisons, special drugs, or anything like that. Bottles of nitrogen are available as industrial lots.
Again, the only reason there are issues with methods of execution is because someone wants there to be issues.
I hope they do. Take this issue off the freaking table.
I can see why you think so, but it is exactly true. It is not the nitrogen that kills you. It is the lack of oxygen. The reason why it is so effective is that nitrogen does not trigger "I'm suffocating" response in the body. Excess CO2 buildup is what makes you gasp for air. In industrial settings where you can have excessive concentrations of nitrogen in the air where workers may be, you have to follow a lot of safety protocols. This is because a worker can go into a room with a high concentration of nitrogen, and he doesn't even realize he's dying until he's already passing out.
That is why it is the perfect thing for executions. If you don't tell the condemned when the concentration starts to increase, he simply passes out and dies without ever realizing it happened.
We can’t pick and choose the parts of the constitution that we like.
This was cruel and unusual. He was dying of cancer. Had no veins showing because of the disease.
Abortoin is horrifying but it does not justify this.
We need more SC justices who see in the constitution that abortion is illegal.
Hanging would have been near foolproof......
If the drugs don’t work, a baseball bat should be near at hand.
So a screwup in the execution makes him any less deserving of death? I don't think so!
BTW, some animals are euthanized in a decompression chamber; they lock 'em in and suck out the air. If it's good enough for a stray dog or cat it's good enough for a criminal!
I can live without the death penalty, if the punishment makes the criminal wish for death. See my FReeper profile for an alternative.
agree
Sorry but yeah that’s pretty much the gist. One of the oldest traditions in our (and English) legal custom is that you can’t hang a man twice. The state get’s one shot and one only at killing you. If they bleep it up then you get to live.
“Cruel and unusual” is a shibboleth for anti-capital punishment, IMO. Punishment may be cruel, and it may be unusual, but it’s all relative if the punishment befits the crime
It's the 8th Amendment of the Constitution.
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