US killer executed with new lethal drug combination

[webfact]

Ohio killer executed with new lethal drug combination

Ohio: A convicted murderer and rapist who was executed by lethal injection took more than 15 minutes to die, snorting and appearing to gasp after he was administered a combination of drugs never tried before in the United States.

The process, using a two-drug protocol, is the latest attempt by states seeking a way to execute prisoners in a constitutionally approved manner that avoids cruel and unusual punishment.

The issue has been complicated because the manufacturer of a drug previously used made it unavailable for use in capital punishment.

According to a pool report from journalists who witnessed the execution at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Dennis McGuire, 53, made ‘‘several loud snorting or snoring sounds’’ in the 15 minutes after he was injected.

McGuire’s lawyer, federal public defender Allen Bohnert, called the death "a failed, agonising experiment by the state of Ohio."

McGuire received a combination of the sedative midazolam and pain killer hydromorphone, a mix Ohio created as a substitute option after it ran out of pentobarbital, a drug whose manufacturer has objected to its use in executions.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/ohio-killer-executed-with-new-lethal-drug-combination-20140117-hv8sk.html

-- The Sydney Morning Herald 2014-01-17

[tominbkk]

I would think the guillotine is the most effective and pain free method?

[krisb]

McGuire’s lawyer, federal public defender Allen Bohnert, called the death "a failed, agonising experiment by the state of Ohio."

Pff, not what the victims family and friends said.

[culicine]

Oh diddums...a little bit of pain for a rapist and murderer.....I'm sure the families of the victims and most of society are not to concerned.

[NeverSure]

Just tie him to a post and give baseball bats to the victim's family members.

Or, a bullet between the eyes is pretty cheap.

[Costas2008]

"McGuire was convicted in 1994 of the rape and murder of 22-year-old Joy Stewart, who was seven months pregnant."

Pity it didn't take him longer to die!

[ronrat]

Joy Stewart would be looking forward to being a grandmother in the next few years. So he snored. Big deal.

[rotary]

Well at least there is some good news today. Hope this helps clear the backlog of death row inmates in all the states with the death sentence

[pancakeman]

Why don't they just give the prisoner a general aesthetic before they put in the killer drugs?

[Chicog]

Because they wouldn't suffer as much.

[Scott]

Why don't they just give the prisoner a general aesthetic before they put in the killer drugs?

You mean put them to sleep before you put them to sleep?

Dr.'s will not participate in the killing process and the administering of general anesthesia is quite complicated. They have been given a last meal and there is a chance of vomiting.

[penwithcris]

This topic brings out the most vengeful of comments, and I have to add mine, that ALL my sympathies are with the victim and her family in this matter.

My home country, the UK, abandoned the death penalty many years ago and now we have to tolerate the most obscene of murderers returning time and time again to our attention like minor celebrities while the families of victims are made to relive their grief over and over again

Convicted murderers should be allowed just one appeal and then executed as quickly as possible by whatever method the state decrees. Closure!

[4u2mad]

Why don't they just give the prisoner a general aesthetic before they put in the killer drugs?

You mean put them to sleep before you put them to sleep?

Dr.'s will not participate in the killing process and the administering of general anesthesia is quite complicated. They have been given a last meal and there is a chance of vomiting.

Oh my God! you mean he might choke on his vomit?

Compared to still 'snorting' 15 minutes after a supposedly lethal injection, it's hard to know what to choose......

Being on death row since 1994 also seems to be a cruel punishment enough.

If a bolt gun is considered humane for cattle and pigs etc, can't we just use that?

[Halion]

Send a tanker load over here as there are many who deserve a little discomfort.

The screaming Liberals and tree huggers will have a field day with this.

Since this high tech nonsense has been introduced they has been nothing but minority groups and civil rights activists complaining. Go back to execution by hanging or electric chair or the gas chamber. These scumbags are simply not worth the money and effort and you are leaving the door open for the activists.

[roamer]

I'm not American but can't help thinking the true absurdity of capital punishment is not the method by which it is carried out but whether it is carried out at all depending on which side of a state line the crime took place.

[CraigSchuler]

He's dead......Good!

[CPT]

I'm not American but can't help thinking the true absurdity of capital punishment is not the method by which it is carried out but whether it is carried out at all depending on which side of a state line the crime took place.

That's like complaining that Germany and France have different sentences for the same crime. Do you believe that sentencing should be standardized world wide and that the people of Ohio shouldn't be allowed to impose different sentences for the same crime than the people of Bhutan or Spain?

[klauskunkel]

At least he provided some entertainment for his watchers of 15min of nothing much happening:

"whoop, he snorted!"

"bet you five bucks he'll snort again!"

Lawyer: "It's illegal to bet on my client's snorts without commission for his lawyer!"

[jackr]

A convicted murderer and rapist who was executed by lethal injection took more than 15 minutes to die, snorting and appearing to gasp after he was administered a combination of drugs never tried before in the United States.

Well all I can say is well done the United States.

[mrwallettt]

The government says that we should not administer cruel and unusual punishment. The people say that snorting and snoring for 15 minutes is just that, cruel and unusual punishment....................If you ask me, it was the girl that he raped and killed that suffered cruel and unusual punishment. I am definitely not a religious person but I do agree with an eye for an eye, let the punishment fit the crime!!!!!!!

[Chicog]

You're right, someone should have buggered him before his last meal.

[socksy01]

Oh diddums...a little bit of pain for a rapist and murderer.....I'm sure the families of the victims and most of society are not to concerned.

Call me old fashioned but a convicted murderer and rapist piece of sh*te deserves a slow painful desk. <deleted> Human Rights - what human rights did his victim(s) have?

[F4UCorsair]

I wonder how long it took for his victim to die after he raped her? Was she choked, stabbed, shot???? None of those are definitely instantaneous, nor pain free, and whilst executions are intended to be as 'clean' as possible, that's not always the case.

[roamer]

I'm not American but can't help thinking the true absurdity of capital punishment is not the method by which it is carried out but whether it is carried out at all depending on which side of a state line the crime took place.

That's like complaining that Germany and France have different sentences for the same crime. Do you believe that sentencing should be standardized world wide and that the people of Ohio shouldn't be allowed to impose different sentences for the same crime than the people of Bhutan or Spain?

Sometimes I have been bemused by posts on this forum but rarely to this extent. Let me clarify;

If I choose to murder someone in North Dakota I can do so knowing I won't face the death penalty as they have no statute for it.

If I cross the line to South Dakota and decide to carry out my murder there I can face the death penalty because the statute exists.

There are many other examples I could choose.

But "That's like complaining that Germany and France have different sentences for the same crime." A

Err....they are different countries, different governments, totally different legal system.

" Do you believe that sentencing should be standardized world wide and that the people of Ohio shouldn't be allowed to impose different sentences for the same crime than the people of Bhutan or Spain?"

No, I'm just suggesting that something like execution should be a national issue. In any other nation that imposes the death penalty that applies 100% within it's borders.

The US is the only nation that lets individual states decide. You have the freedom to decide whether you can execute people but not whether you can pay your taxes.

[Credo]

You are posting nonsense and you are comparing apples and oranges. First of all, some states have a state income tax, other's don't, tax laws are probably more variable than criminal laws.

State's have rights and those rights are in line with the US Constitution. The death penalty is a national issue. If the Supreme Court decides that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment it will outlaw it and it will not be permitted in the states. State law does not supersede the US constitution.

If people are going to be put to death, then the obligation of the state is to do so in a reasonably humane manner. I don't think the intent of this fiasco was to make the guy suffer more for his crimes. He did, but that wasn't the intent.

[rotary]

Because they wouldn't suffer as much.

Thats a good reason, they should suffer. Have a read of Texas Death Row last words. Most of these guys start to say they are sorry for killing Joe & raping 87 year old Mary. It is sick. They deserve what they get.

Edited January 18, 2014 by rotary

[lomatopo]

While I am not familiar with the deceased's case it is not unusual for many in the U.S. to be wrongly convicted, especially if a minority or otherwise disenfranchised.

18 of the 312 people exonerated through DNA served time on death row. Another 16 were charged with capital crimes but not sentenced to death.*

Some are uncomfortable with the thought of executing an innocent person, and only a moron would suggest that innocent people have not been - Oops, sorry - 'accidently' executed, while others are OK with a few good apples getting executed as part of the price to be paid.

Our (U.S.) challenges with various methods: firing squad, hanging (we once did 38 people - native Americans in a single day, and 13 African-Americans in a single day), burning (at the stake), crushing, gas, electric chair indicate a predileiction with capital punishment, balanced with a desire to make it "un-cruel", not unlike the dichotomy of punishment and deterrence.

Over the past 20 years, the death penalty has slowly declined in popularity in the United States from an all-time high in 1994 of 80% in favor to around 63% in 2012. Since 2007, six states have abolished the death penalty.

* http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/DNA_Exonerations_Nationwide.php

[samran]

I don't agree with the death penalty. I await all the labeling as a tree hugging liberal, but is simply don't agree that anyone has the right to take someone else's life. Even the state.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the death penalty isn't a deterrent. Also the subjectivity which sometimes goes into deciding someone's guilt, as we have seen people from being exonerated based on DNA. But for me that is beside the point. You don't take another persons life.

The irony of all this is that I think death is too easy as punishment for scum like most who go to death row. Small dark room chained to a wall for the rest of their life is more apt.

Edited January 18, 2014 by samran

[folium]

I don't agree with the death penalty. I await all the labeling as a tree hugging liberal, but is simply don't agree that anyone has the right to take someone else's life. Even the state.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the death penalty isn't a deterrent. Also the subjectivity which sometimes goes into deciding someone's guilt, as we have seen people from being exonerated based on DNA. But for me that is beside the point. You don't take another persons life.

The irony of all this is that I think death is too easy as punishment for scum like most who go to death row. Small dark room chained to a wall for the rest of their life is more apt.

Punishment for a crime committed should not be about revenge, or eye for eye bs.

Sadly whenever humans are involved mistakes happen, innocently or otherwise. The death penalty makes it a little hard to say "whoops".

Most countries have dispensed with capital punishment and not seen an explosion in crime stats, funny that?

[sirineou]

I'm not American but can't help thinking the true absurdity of capital punishment is not the method by which it is carried out but whether it is carried out at all depending on which side of a state line the crime took place.

That's like complaining that Germany and France have different sentences for the same crime. Do you believe that sentencing should be standardized world wide and that the people of Ohio shouldn't be allowed to impose different sentences for the same crime than the people of Bhutan or Spain?

Sometimes I have been bemused by posts on this forum but rarely to this extent. Let me clarify;

If I choose to murder someone in North Dakota I can do so knowing I won't face the death penalty as they have no statute for it.

If I cross the line to South Dakota and decide to carry out my murder there I can face the death penalty because the statute exists.

There are many other examples I could choose.

But "That's like complaining that Germany and France have different sentences for the same crime." A

Err....they are different countries, different governments, totally different legal system.

" Do you believe that sentencing should be standardized world wide and that the people of Ohio shouldn't be allowed to impose different sentences for the same crime than the people of Bhutan or Spain?"

No, I'm just suggesting that something like execution should be a national issue. In any other nation that imposes the death penalty that applies 100% within it's borders.

The US is the only nation that lets individual states decide. You have the freedom to decide whether you can execute people but not whether you can pay your taxes.

Y

The USA as the name implies is a union of states, A federation of states, There are there levels of government, Federal, State, and Local

All with different responsibilities.

Each state has it's own constitution, but such constitution must comply with the US constitution, States have the right to pass their own laws as long as these laws comply with the US constitution, since capital punishment is not unconstitutional it is up to each state to either adopt it or not.

The eighth amendment to the US constitution deals with "cruel and unusual punishment"

so far the US supreme court has not determined capital punishment to constitute "cruel and unusual punishment"

hens the efforts to keep it as humane as possible.

any torchure involved in executions as some posters have suggested desirable, would violate the Eighth amendment of the US constitution and render Capitol Punishment unconstitutional.

Edited January 18, 2014 by sirineou