Botched execution of Clayton Lockett could lead to return of gas chamber in Oklahoma

[geoffreychaucer]

So I don't think we as a society needs to be killing people... If only dangerous crimminals were in prison and not drug offenders and other non-violent offenders then we would have plenty of space to hold these death row inmates. But like you all said, I don't understand why we can't use more tried and true methods like CO. And if you are killing people in the first place, why would you care about them having an intact brain? You could just put a .22 in there, there'd just be a small entrance wound, no exit wound. That's how China does it, although probably not .22 caliber.

 

[paranoid android]

^ I have seen people survive a .22 to the head for hours after they had been shot. One gruesome event that happened here was when a guy tried to kill himself with a .22 rifle but didn't get the job done with 1 shot. He went up behind his house to shoot himself so he had to run back into the house for more ammo to finish himself off. Another guy here tried to kill himself with a .410 shotgun and ended up bleeding to death over a few hours.

If i was going to be killed by a firing squad id pick a double barrel 10 gauge with the triggers wired together and 2 slugs instead of shot in it. That kind of firepower would blow your head right off so you wouldn't have to worry about bleeding to death that's for sure.

 

[cj]

Except states have never used a midazolem OD for lethal injection. The lethal agent is potassium chloride, which is incredibly painful, and ugly too. And of course, to make things more pleasant for the voyeurs-ahem... witnesses, a muscle relaxant is administered to prevent unsightly convulsions. In the old three-drug combination, sodium thiopental was used to render the victim unconscious before administration of the lethal drug. Nevermind that the old combination caused plenty of screw-ups in its own right, we have a clear track record of midazolem failing to render the victim unconscious. We also have a clear track record of criminal incompetence on the part of the "doctors" who administer lethal injections, and a clear track record of criminal negligence on the part of the states like Oklahoma which went out of its way to avoid disclosing sources or amounts of the drugs used.

A single-drug injection is the obvious solution to this problem: If for whatever reason the drug fails, the only result is that the victim doesn't die. Not that I think the death penalty should be legal in America anyways... but if we're going to do it, we can at least do it in a semi-humane manner.

Part of the problem is that there are no doctors involved in the process. This means you have rank amateurs trying to understand complex pharmacology and medical procedures. Frankly I would trust the average bluelighter to pick me a fatal combo before I trusted a department of corrections "paramedic" to do it. I'm against the death penalty but if your going to do it use some crazy fentanyl analogue.

 

[bdomihizayka]

I don't understand how it's so hard to kill an inmate from lethal injection, and how the drugs they need are "never" available.

Administer fentanyl and a benzo- and heroicly huge doses of it - the dude would be dead in minuntes. It's fucking fail-proof- how is lethal injection so fucking complicated BOGGLES my fucking mind.