Badges - Re: Georgia inmate's thrashing during execution raises new questions about Death Row drug
- From: C D Rowsell <cd2u@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <badges@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2011 23:58:42 -0700
PLEASE. Maybe it was a sleep start (also known as hypnic or hypnagogic
jerks) as he was going under. Any kind of reaction seems to be considered as
bad, but this may not be the case. These defense types make their livings
keeping this crap going.
If you go to
http://reason.com/blog/2011/06/21/california-death-row-spends-30 you can
read how it has gotten out of control here in CA. What is worse, everyone
living in this state is paying for it at a time CA taxpayers can least
afford it. It all comes down to endless legal challenges and defense lawyers
more than happy to take the cases. They can literally look at each death row
inmate as a 25 year annuity for them or their firm.
CD
From: badges-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:badges-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of CarlGlas@xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2011 8:02 PM
To: badges@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Badges - Georgia inmate's thrashing during execution raises new
questions about Death Row drug
Emacs!
Georgia inmate Roy. Blankenship struggled during his recent execution.
Officials are uncertain if it was a botched execution or a drug reaction.
(AP)
ATLANTA -- The thrashing, jerking death of Roy Willard Blankenship has
lawyers for death row inmates plotting fresh arguments against the drug used
to execute him, even though they may never be able to prove that it caused
the spasms in his last moments.
Medical experts say it's possible that Georgia prison staff botched the
procedure last week using a controversial new sedative
<http://blog.al.com/wire/2011/04/alabama_turns_to_new_drug_for.html> , that
Blankenship had some sort of jarring reaction to the drug, or even that he
faked it. Still, defense attorneys around the nation say they plan to cite
Blankenship in requests to stop executions using pentobarbital, a chemical
being adopted by a growing number of states
<http://blog.al.com/wire/2011/04/states_switching_to_new_sedati.html> as
they run out of another commonly-used drug.
Blankenship jerked his head several times, mumbled inaudibly and appeared to
gasp for breath for several minutes after he was pumped with pentobarbital
on Thursday in Georgia's death chamber. Inmates are usually much more still
during a lethal injection, but medical experts are split about what whether
Blankenship's movements were a sign that his execution was bungled.
"As he's going to sleep, there could be many kinds of reactions. He could
have had the same reaction with sodium thiopental," which was once the
predominant execution drug, said Dr. Howard Nearman, who chairs the
anesthesiology department at Case Western Reserve University's medical
school. "And he could have been faking it. Anything's possible."
Georgia's prison department has stopped short of publicly launching an
investigation, but said in a statement it will work with the state attorney
general's office to ensure "execution procedures are medically appropriate."
Whatever conclusions the state reaches, defense attorneys said they are
planning to invoke Blankenship's execution in court filings as evidence that
pentobarbital could violate the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
"It is clear that something went very wrong during the Blankenship execution
and lawyers challenging lethal injection in other states will be taking a
very close look at what happened," said Ty Alper, a California attorney who
represents several death row inmates and works with the death penalty clinic
at the University of California-Berkeley.
The execution of Blankenship, condemned for the 1978 murder of an elderly
Savannah woman, was the first in Georgia using pentobarbital as part of a
three-drug execution combination. The state was forced to switch after it
surrendered its supply of sodium thiopental to federal officials amid an
investigation into how the drug was obtained.
Georgia is one of several states that have adopted pentobarbital, which is
commonly used to destroy dogs and cats, since the sole U.S. manufacturer of
sodium thiopental stopped making it in 2009 and dropped plans to resume
production earlier this year.
Among the objections to the new drug were multiple challenges by
Blankenship's attorneys, who argued in state and federal court that it could
cause him needless pain and suffering. Each request was rejected.
As the injection began, Blankenship jerked his head toward his left arm and
began rapidly blinking. He then lurched toward his right arm, lunging twice
with his mouth wide open as if he were gasping for air. A minute later, he
pushed his head forward while mouthing inaudible words. His eyes never
closed.
The movements stopped within three minutes, and he was declared dead 12
minutes later.
Medical experts differ on whether the spasms indicate the execution was
improperly carried out.
Dr. Mark Dershwitz, a University of Massachusetts anesthesiologist, said
pentobarbital can sometimes cause pain and involuntary jerking movements
even when it's properly injected. Case Western's Nearman said patients
sometimes move during an "excitement phase" that takes hold as a patient
slips out of consciousness.
Others said Blankenship's reaction is a sign the pentobarbital didn't work
right.
"They clearly botched this execution and Mr. Blankenship clearly suffered,"
said Dr. David Waisel, a Harvard medical professor who has raised questions
about using pentobarbital. He said it's clear "something went wrong."
It's rare to see an inmate struggle after a lethal injection starts. Lewis
Williams had to be forcibly strapped to a gurney as he pleaded for mercy
during his 2004 execution in Ohio. But observers said he went to sleep the
moment sodium thiopental started.
Alabama Execution_Bran.jpg
<http://media.al.com/wire/photo/9705599-small.jpg>
View full size
<http://media.al.com/wire/photo/alabama-execution-branjpg-7eb085fd92d657fe.j
pg>
Alabama inmate Eddie D. Powell reacted physically during his execution.
(AP/Alabama Department of Corrections)
Blankenship's execution, though, is the second example of odd movements in
lethal injections involving pentobarbital this year. Eddie Duval Powell
raised his head with a confused look on his face and glanced around
Alabama's death chamber after he was injected with pentobarbital on June 16.
<http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/06/hold_eddie_duvall_powell_dies.html> He
then dropped his head back down and appeared to be unconscious.
"This will become an issue," said Alabama death penalty attorney Bryan
Stevenson, citing the two cases. "With Blankenship's execution, new concerns
will be raised about the protocols states are employing with this new drug."
Officials in Georgia, meanwhile, are quietly trying to determine what, if
anything went wrong. No new executions have been scheduled since Blankenship
was put to death.
His lawyer Brian Kammer wants an independent investigation and a firmer ban
on executions until such a probe is complete.
"I can't see how this is not further evidence that Georgia can't competently
implement a judicial lethal injection, and that it would form the basis of
future challenges," he said.
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