Posted on 09/29/2006 1:56:43 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN JOSE
A judge weighing whether the state's lethal injection method is an unconstitutionally cruel punishment said Friday that the issue hinges on whether the condemned inmate is aware of what's happening.
"The critical question, I guess, the court has to look at is what evidence there is of consciousness," U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said at the conclusion of the four day hearing.
Until a ruling, which Fogel expects to issue in November, executions in the state are on hold.
Fogel halted the execution of rapist and murderer Michael Morales in February after his lawyers claimed inmates were suffering excruciating deaths in San Quentin State Prison's death chamber.
Defense witnesses said executioners were not properly trained and were not delivering proper doses of the three drugs that sedate, paralyze and then stop inmates' hearts. While inmates may appear at peace, the drugs may mask a painful death, witnesses said.
The state's medical experts testified that the condemned are knocked unconscious in the first moments of the process and die without unnecessary pain.
The hearing is one of several that have taken place nationwide as death row prisoners mount challenges to lethal injection, which is the preferred execution method in 37 states.
Fogel said he would not determine if the death penalty is an unconstitutional breach of the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. That decision is up to lawmakers and the U.S. Supreme Court, he said.
But he may tinker with the California's execution procedure to eliminate any unnecessary pain Morales and the state's other 651 death row inmates may feel.
Morales, 46, was condemned for murdering Terri Winchell, 17, of Lodi 25 years ago.
The girl's mother, Barbara Christian, said the hearings were unnecessary for a man who repeatedly beat her daughter with a hammer and ran her over with a car.
"I personally don't care about pain he feels," Christian after the hearing.
The case is Morales v. Tilton, 06-219.
I was being sarcastic, but no, of course not.
So, whack him in the back of the head with a sledgehammer when he is not expecting it. Appropriate execution and lack of conciousness in one fell swoop.
A fully anesthetized patient is more likely than not to aspirate if he has had a meal anywhere from 4 to 6 hours prior to the "procedure". Upon aspiration of the vomitus from the stomach he would drown in his own vomit. This is fine with me but this bleeding heart judge would have a hissy fit if that happened. Now, considering that the condemned has a last meal before execution this is highly likely.
Next, we have to fix the aspiration problem. Do we, a) deny the scumbag his last meal (cruel and unusual punishment)or, b) proceed with the execution a good 6 hours after the last meal, or maybe 8 hours, just to be "safe".
Consider that he may aspirate under the anesthesia anyway. Should we stop and resuscitate him and then proceed with the execution. I'm sure this dirtbag judge would say yes.
At what point, and who decides that point, painless wise, do we get to hammer in the KCL and stop this mad dog's heart.
I've always been in favor of eliminating all the other drugs and just hammering in the KCL (Potassium Chloride) in about one hundred times the lethal dose bolus fashion. Of course there will be a huge convulsion and plenty of urine and feces to clean up, and oh yes, there will be tremendous pain, but it won't last 5 seconds. Dirtnap for the dirtbag with a little painful justice to go along, but only 5 seconds. Works for me!
No normal person would! Makes you wonder how democrats keep voting into office politicians who see nothing wrong with such evil under the demonic deception of 'women's choice'.
Heck...if you're Terri Schiavo, a combination of dehydration and starvation are considered 'euphoric'!
every lib/dem judge is always worried about those pesky perp rights...how about just once worrying about the denied rights of the victims....oh wait...that does not fit the lib/dem/aclu platform...it is all about those perps...screw the victims!.....I don't give a rats ass if it is painful or not....rabid dogs are put down....these animals should be put down as well...and the faster the better!
Because doing so justifies their own selfish decisions in their own lives? My opinion of course.
I think they should go out screaming in terror. That's something they could appreciate.
That is the point of a lethal execution. It is, by definition, inhumane. By reasoned purpose, it ends the humanity of the subject. By any form of logic, state ordered, lethal execution of a living human being is cruel. By reasoned judgment, that cruelty is justified by the circumstances of the finding.
No government system designed to intercede into individual actions is perfect. People will be wrongly executed. It is the responsibility of the society to weigh the risks against the benefits when deciding the appropriateness of the remedy. The personal circumstances of the process are not part of that equation.
The 400 pound, moral gorilla that no one wants to talk about is the obvious economies of a prompt execution of sentences decided by prudent people and carried out in compliance with the codified traditions of a majority of that society. Decisions that linger, like fresh food, become offensive and unpalatable with age.
It is the goal of the liberal to delay those decisions until even a prudent man realizes that the delays have rendered the object of the decision, individual and community deterrence, worthless. If a death warrant was determined to be justified by reasoned judgment after fair presentation and review, the sentence needs to be executed quickly. Within hours, not decades.
30.06 point blank range....zippo
Truthfully, the ultimate solution is to roll them in a rug then kick and stomp the rug flat. If it was good enough for the Khans it's good enough for scumbags like the condemned.
It's supersonic, so the perp would never hear it coming, and unconsciousness should occur in well under 1 millisecond, after the back of the skull is contacted. There might not even be an exit wound (probably some blood would come out the eyes and ears, though).
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