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.
My dog snagged a bird in the back yard yesterday. I used a brick because the fool dog did not finish the job. A brick works fine. Perhaps they should use a brick.
I’m all for adopting to the guillotine.
Fast, sure and best of all, cheap.
A public hanging has all the cachet one desires for these types of events...
The guillotine is just to frenchified for our tastes.
Carolyn
A bullet in the back of the head is faster, cleaner, and cheaper.
Set the noose wrong you can either strangle the subject or pop his head right off.
True enough, dead is dead, but when you expect a simple drop and pop then a head comes flying into the witnesses. It could cause a bad day for everyone not just the hanged man.
A guillotine is fairly foolproof. Drop, chop, basket, cheer. Next.
You win the discussion by dint of the grim details...!
Likewise the slow suffocation of the "gas chamber".
If we cannot dispatch murderers and rapists quickly (with a long drop hanging or, preferably, the guillotine), capital punishment is not going to have a future.
Roll on two.
“We have had to put four of our dogs down over the years - it never gets any easier, does it?”
We had her 14 years- never had an animal for that long, before.
Calpernia was kind enough to start a post on it here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1777582/posts
I’d have taken that needle myself, if that would have restored her to what she had been before the strokes got to her.
Got a puppy, three days later, because we couldn’t stand the silence ( also on the post ) and it’s like having a bolt of lightning in the house- it sure isn’t quiet, any more!
Kind regards to you.
Hey, mom. How much suffering did your son’s victims experience?
Only in America can a person sue someone because they can’t do their job properly because you are a junkie!
And it cost us ~$40k a year x 22 years = almost $900k to keep this guy alive so we could serve him the death sentence? Then pay Mommy some money because he 'suffered'? I don't think so.
Sad too hear.
I am glad you have a new rocket in the house.
JJ
If I had that much energy, I'd rule the world...
LOL! Thanks for the link!
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