One Jolt Instead of Four: Nebraska Changes Electrocution Procedure to Ward off Challenge

AP ^ | April 1, 2004

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One Jolt Instead of Four: Nebraska Changes Electrocution Procedure to Ward off Challenge

Apr 1, 2004

By Kevin O'hanlon Associated Press Writer

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Nebraska has changed the way it uses the electric chair to head off legal challenges asserting that the procedure is cruel and unusual. Instead of using four jolts of electricity, prison officials will now administer a single dose 15 seconds long, Department of Corrections spokesman Steve King said Thursday.

The change was implemented March 15 in anticipation of court arguments later this month involving three men convicted in the slayings of five people inside a Norfolk bank in 2002. The inmates believe the chair amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

Lawmakers have been debating whether to eliminate the chair and use only lethal injection. Nebraska is the only state with electrocution as its sole means of execution.

The state adopted the four-jolts procedure after problems marred several executions in Florida, including one in 1990 in which flames shot out of an inmate's head.

But some experts have said the uninterrupted current of electricity has its risks, including problems like fires and severe burning of the prisoner.

All three people put to death in Nebraska since executions were resumed in 1994 were given multiple jolts of electricity.

Post-mortem photographs of the three were among evidence presented by death row inmate Charles Jess Palmer to U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon. The judge vacated Palmer's death sentence last year for other reasons but said he had been prepared to rule that the electric chair was cruel and unusual punishment.

Coroner reports show that one of the executed prisoners suffered a 4-inch blistering burn on the top of his head and blistering above his ears. Another had a "bubble blister" the size of a baseball on his calf, and his post-mortem exam also showed pronounced "charring" on the knee and on the top of the head.

Witnesses observed that the third was still breathing after the first and second applications of electricity.

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[Prince Charles]

Coroner reports show that one of the executed prisoners suffered a 4-inch blistering burn on the top of his head and blistering above his ears. Another had a "bubble blister" the size of a baseball on his calf, and his post-mortem exam also showed pronounced "charring" on the knee and on the top of the head. Witnesses observed that the third was still breathing after the first and second applications of electricity.

And exactly what kind of mercy did the perps show to their victims? None? Oh, I see.

[Elle Bee]

The state adopted the four-jolts procedure after problems marred several executions in Florida, including one in 1990 in which flames shot out of an inmate's head.

cool ...... fry 'em long and hard ..... and broadcast it live on cable

.

[TheBattman]

If they get the guts to actually use the proceedure, it's going to literally smell like a BBQ.....

[Viking2002]

Give the sumbitches a shot of juice so high in amperage, they glow in the first two seconds. That'll do it. Their brains will cook to cinders before they even know the switch was thrown - that ought to satisfy everyone.

[AngrySpud]

I support the death penalty, but Old Sparky seems a bit barbaric. I prefer a form of execution where they have a few conscious moments to see the Gates of Hell swinging open for them.

Lest *I* seem barbaric, I acknowledge that a handful of the condemned will see the Arms of Christ receiving them.

[Willie Green]

A traditional length of rope is more energy efficient and enviro-friendly.

[eeriegeno]

Coroner reports show that one of the executed prisoners suffered a 4-inch blistering burn on the top of his head and blistering above his ears. Another had a "bubble blister" the size of a baseball on his calf, and his post-mortem exam also showed pronounced "charring" on the knee and on the top of the head.

If they were hanged, there are those who would say that they have marks on their necks. If they were shot by firing squad, there are those who would say that they have a hole in their body and that they bled to death. If they were given a lethal injection, there are those who would say that the needle hurt them too much......

IMHO, we should let the victims families stone them to death. Maybe then, and only then, would they feel the fear and pain that their victims felt......

But then again, we are a civilized society now, aren't we?????

[cavtrooper21]

I like the Russain (KGB) method.

They get you up, with out telling you why, and walk you to a room lined with tile that has a nice thick timber wall on the end opposite the door and a big floor drain.
By the time you figure out what is going on it's too late.
9X18mm soft point through the back of the head.
Quick, cheap and mostly painless.
Wrap the body in a plastic sheet, turn it over to the next of kin along with the empty shell casing and a bill for services rendered, hose down the floor and its..."now serving #4, whos #4??"

[JOE6PAK]

Can't they just use a wood chipper?

[cavtrooper21]

We like to think so, but don't scratch that veneer to hard. It'll peel right off and put you face to face with a ruthless beast with a taste blood.
Yes, you guessed it.

Hillary Clinton.

[cavtrooper21]

(ooooh, I'm tired)
That would be "a taste FOR blood"...

[Viking2002]

To paraphrase Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles: "Too Iraqi." :-)

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas - a split second after he realizes the room is empty, Scorcese cuts to shot from the ceiling and Pesci's character is lying there with a pool of blood forming from his (now aching) head.

[cavtrooper21]

Yep...
Works every time....

and if for some stupid reason he's still moving, just aim and squeeze the trigger again.

No fried meat, no blisters, no twitching to offend the bystanders (hell, there aren't any!!!)
Just fast, econmomical garbage disposal.

[IronJack]

More delaying tactics by the Compassion for the Criminal crowd. The Norfolk Killers are cold-blooded ba$stards who wasted their victims for no reason. However, Nebraska does not have a good track record for executions; the last few have taken 20 years to carry out.

[Indie]

including one in 1990 in which flames shot out of an inmate's head.

Sounds like a movie. Tom Hanks...and Frankie Figgs as the convict :))