Posted on 07/03/2007 8:23:23 AM PDT by Krista33
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The mother of a US man whose 2006 execution took 86 minutes and involved sticking needles into him 19 times has sued the prison team which oversaw the execution for civil rights violations.
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On Monday Irma Clark filed suit in the Cincinnati, Ohio, district court, alleging her son Joseph Clark was exposed to "excessive suffering" violating the US constitution when he was put to death on May 2, 2006, at a state prison in Lucasville, Ohio, according to court documents.
The suit claims that two prison administrators and 12 members of the execution team ignored the fact that Clark, who had been sentenced to death for a 1984 murder, had long been an intravenous drug user making it difficult to carry out the execution by lethal injection.
The filing said it took the execution team 25 minutes on their first attempt to place shunts in Clark's arms to inject the three drugs used in the execution, because of heavy scar tissue on his arms from drug use.
"The first execution attempt failed, probably due to a collapsed vein," the complaint read. "The execution team discovered the problem when Mr Clark lifted his head from the gurney and repeatedly stated, 'It don't work.'"
Clark also asked if there was some other way they could put him to death, according to the suit.
In a second try, it took the team another half-hour to find a usable vein, and as they did, "witnesses could hear Mr Clark's groans from behind the curtain."
After Clark was finally pronounced dead, 86 minutes after the process began, an autopsy showed 19 needle puncture wounds from the process.
The suit alleges the team did not follow procedures and was negligent in handling the execution.
"As a result of defendants' deliberate indifference to the substantial risk of a problematic execution, Mr Clark needlessly suffered humiliation, pain and suffering, and emotional stress," it said.
The suit asks for 150,000 dollars in damages.
Several US states have recently halted executions due to problems with the lethal injection method.
One gun + one bullet + one shot to the head = done.
I say we go back to the “Original” - “Crispy Critters”.
Just like in "The Green Mile."
Her son was a monster that didn’t care about the suffering of his victims.
Well, at this forum, there will be a lot of mockery. Nonetheless, it does sound pretty ghastly.
I think this dilemma comes from erring in the direction of the humanitarian. The death penalty is an absolute necessity. Of all the forms I can think of that have been used, the guillotine seems the most foolproof, though none is pleasant.
But then again, they’re really not supposed to be pleasant, are they? Isn’t that kind of the point?
This seems rather modest.
Too bad she didn't hire the Breck Girl ; he could have channeled her dead son from beyond the grave so he could testify as to how brutal the execution was.
Since it is humane to put animals to sleep, they should hire veterinarians to administer the drugs. They are used to dealing with sons-of-bitches.
I agree with her and do not think that $150,000 in damages is an unreasonable sum to ask for. It’s not even a quarter of a million dollars, so there is no way anyone here can argue that it is unreasonable.
After 20 minutes they should have found a rope. It’s an execution, not State-sanctioned torture.
Actually, someone should have totalled up the amount of time his victims suffered before they died and stretched his execution out by twice as much.
Ah h*ll, just beat the next one to death with a baseball bat.
Naw won't work. You can't sue the 3rd party for the actions of a murderer. Most moms love their kids no matter what they have done...
You said, “I surely hope his victims countersue her...”
But as far as I know, she had no role in her son’s crimes.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lewis_Clark
“When Clark entered a Toledo gas station station at approximately 9:00 p.m. on January 13, 1984, he had his .32 caliber revolver drawn. He demanded money and the attendant, David A. Manning, handed him the money out of the cash register. After receiving the money, Clark claimed that this was not all of the money Manning had. Manning then proceeded to give him an envelope and it was at this point that Clark shot him. Sixty dollars was stolen by Clark in the hold-up.”
From another website (since this bleeding heart ‘journalist’ likes to leave out facts):
Clark was executed at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, for the Jan. 13, 1984, slaying of David Manning, a 23-year-old husband and father who was shot at a gas station on Airport Highway in South Toledo.
He received a life sentence for killing another clerk, Donald Harris, 21, the night before at a store on Hill Avenue.
Clark was arrested after shooting a third man, Robert Roloff, during a holdup at a bank ATM in Toledo, three days after shooting Mr. Manning. Mr. Roloff survived.
“Justice has been served today for both David Manning and Donald Harris. Joseph Clark has finally received that which was his due,” Mary Ellen (Manning) Gordon, Mr. Manning’s widow, said after the execution.
Mrs. Gordon said she “did not shed a single tear for the execution of Joseph Clark,” whom she said was “a perfect candidate” to receive the death penalty. Mr. Manning’s brother, Michael, said that Clark tried to be a martyr. But he said Clark is “not a martyr. He’s just a murderer.”
They should bill her for the accupuncture treatment he got prior to his death.
Jam a scissors into the base of his skull and suck out his brains. The liberals preferred form of execution
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