Post by Anja Nieser on Oct 1, 2006 6:53:08 GMT -5
LETHAL INJECTION HEARING ----Prisoner possibly conscious at death;
Testimony done; ruling possible in November
A federal court hearing on the constitutionality of California's lethal
injection methods wrapped up Friday after a surprising concession by the
state's medical expert that a murderer from San Francisco might have been
conscious while he was put to death in 2001.
Dr. Robert Singler, a Napa anesthesiologist, spent two days on the witness
stand in San Jose defending the state's newly revised execution procedures
against claims by a condemned murderer that flaws in the drug sequence and
its implementation could lead to excruciating pain.
Singler said prison doctors were probably observing involuntary-reflex
actions when they reported that some inmates appeared to be inhaling and
exhaling long after a barbiturate should have stopped their breath at the
start of their executions.
But Singler took a step back Friday when U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel
asked him about one of those inmates, Robert Lee Massie, executed in 2001
for the 1979 murder of a San Francisco liquor store owner.
According to execution logs at San Quentin State Prison, Massie, 59, was
injected with the barbiturate sodium pentothal at 12:20 am. on March 27,
2001, and with the paralytic drug pancuronium bromide a minute later, but
appeared to be breathing until 12:25 a.m. After 2 subsequent injections of
the heart-stopping chemical potassium chloride, he was pronounced dead at
12:33 a.m.
When Fogel asked about another apparent notation in the record -- that
Massie's heart rate rose to 160 beats per minute after the pentothal
injection -- Singler said the figure, if accurate, "raises a question of
whether or not this inmate was awake. I don't dispute that.''
Singler did not appear to be conceding that Massie had been aware as the
pancuronium bromide took effect. According to Singler and other witnesses,
the drug would create a terrifying feeling of suffocation.
But his acknowledgement that Massie might have been conscious contrasted
with the state's position that there was no evidence that any of the 11
inmates put to death by lethal injection at San Quentin since 1996 had
felt pain or been conscious for a prolonged period.
Fogel presided over the four-day hearing after issuing a stay of execution
in February to Michael Morales of Stockton, convicted of raping and
fatally battering 17-year-old Terri Winchell of Lodi in 1981. That ruling,
which Fogel issued after the state tried unsuccessfully to recruit doctors
to monitor Morales' level of unconsciousness, has in effect put executions
in California on hold.
Winchell's mother, Barbara Christian, attended Friday's session and told
reporters afterward that she resented the proceedings.
"I'm very angry that they are concerned that for five to seven minutes ...
(Morales) might feel some pain,'' she said, adding that she was looking
forward to attending Morales' execution.
In closing the hearings, Fogel said he realized that "other issues swirl
about this case -- how people feel about the death penalty, about the
rights of victims and of victims' families -- all of which are very
important. But this court has a very specific job to do.''
The judge told lawyers to submit a final round of written arguments by
Oct. 27 and said he would try to rule by early November on whether the
state's methods violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual
punishment. If he finds the system unconstitutional, he could order
changes or leave those decisions to the state.
One issue Fogel is apparently considering is the claim by Morales' lawyers
that executions at San Quentin are carried out in chaotic conditions that
invite disaster.
Mark Heath, an anesthesiologist who was the plaintiff's medical expert,
testified earlier in the week that the execution team has little training,
is misinformed about the drugs, mixes and injects them from a dimly lit
and overcrowded antechamber, can't see the prisoner clearly and would be
unable to hear any sounds of distress from inside the sealed death
chamber.
During Friday's testimony by Singler, the state's expert, Fogel read from
a federal judge's ruling this month upholding lethal injections in
Virginia. In that state, the ruling said, the executioner and the staffers
who attach the syringes have specific training and watch the prisoner from
inside the chamber, through holes in a curtain.
Some of those, including the clearer view of the prisoner, could be
improvements on California's system, Singler said.
Fogel also asked Singler about conducting the execution solely with a
large dose of sodium pentothal or another barbiturate, which would
eliminate the possibility of a conscious inmate suffering the sensation of
suffocation from the pancuronium bromide and the burning pain of potassium
chloride.
The proposed change has 2 drawbacks, Singler said: Death would take 20 to
40 minutes, at least twice the current average, and a rare inmate might
survive even a heavy dose of the barbiturate.
He said the possibility of accidents would be lessened by new procedures
that the state announced in March, after Morales' stay of execution.
The initial dose of sodium pentothal would be diminished, a change
recommended to officials by Singler, who said the previous dose might be
causing shock that would interfere with the effects of the other drugs.
After that injection, sodium pentothal would be infused steadily into the
prisoner's other arm to keep him unconsciousness throughout the execution.
(source: San Francisco Chronicle)
Testimony done; ruling possible in November
A federal court hearing on the constitutionality of California's lethal
injection methods wrapped up Friday after a surprising concession by the
state's medical expert that a murderer from San Francisco might have been
conscious while he was put to death in 2001.
Dr. Robert Singler, a Napa anesthesiologist, spent two days on the witness
stand in San Jose defending the state's newly revised execution procedures
against claims by a condemned murderer that flaws in the drug sequence and
its implementation could lead to excruciating pain.
Singler said prison doctors were probably observing involuntary-reflex
actions when they reported that some inmates appeared to be inhaling and
exhaling long after a barbiturate should have stopped their breath at the
start of their executions.
But Singler took a step back Friday when U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel
asked him about one of those inmates, Robert Lee Massie, executed in 2001
for the 1979 murder of a San Francisco liquor store owner.
According to execution logs at San Quentin State Prison, Massie, 59, was
injected with the barbiturate sodium pentothal at 12:20 am. on March 27,
2001, and with the paralytic drug pancuronium bromide a minute later, but
appeared to be breathing until 12:25 a.m. After 2 subsequent injections of
the heart-stopping chemical potassium chloride, he was pronounced dead at
12:33 a.m.
When Fogel asked about another apparent notation in the record -- that
Massie's heart rate rose to 160 beats per minute after the pentothal
injection -- Singler said the figure, if accurate, "raises a question of
whether or not this inmate was awake. I don't dispute that.''
Singler did not appear to be conceding that Massie had been aware as the
pancuronium bromide took effect. According to Singler and other witnesses,
the drug would create a terrifying feeling of suffocation.
But his acknowledgement that Massie might have been conscious contrasted
with the state's position that there was no evidence that any of the 11
inmates put to death by lethal injection at San Quentin since 1996 had
felt pain or been conscious for a prolonged period.
Fogel presided over the four-day hearing after issuing a stay of execution
in February to Michael Morales of Stockton, convicted of raping and
fatally battering 17-year-old Terri Winchell of Lodi in 1981. That ruling,
which Fogel issued after the state tried unsuccessfully to recruit doctors
to monitor Morales' level of unconsciousness, has in effect put executions
in California on hold.
Winchell's mother, Barbara Christian, attended Friday's session and told
reporters afterward that she resented the proceedings.
"I'm very angry that they are concerned that for five to seven minutes ...
(Morales) might feel some pain,'' she said, adding that she was looking
forward to attending Morales' execution.
In closing the hearings, Fogel said he realized that "other issues swirl
about this case -- how people feel about the death penalty, about the
rights of victims and of victims' families -- all of which are very
important. But this court has a very specific job to do.''
The judge told lawyers to submit a final round of written arguments by
Oct. 27 and said he would try to rule by early November on whether the
state's methods violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual
punishment. If he finds the system unconstitutional, he could order
changes or leave those decisions to the state.
One issue Fogel is apparently considering is the claim by Morales' lawyers
that executions at San Quentin are carried out in chaotic conditions that
invite disaster.
Mark Heath, an anesthesiologist who was the plaintiff's medical expert,
testified earlier in the week that the execution team has little training,
is misinformed about the drugs, mixes and injects them from a dimly lit
and overcrowded antechamber, can't see the prisoner clearly and would be
unable to hear any sounds of distress from inside the sealed death
chamber.
During Friday's testimony by Singler, the state's expert, Fogel read from
a federal judge's ruling this month upholding lethal injections in
Virginia. In that state, the ruling said, the executioner and the staffers
who attach the syringes have specific training and watch the prisoner from
inside the chamber, through holes in a curtain.
Some of those, including the clearer view of the prisoner, could be
improvements on California's system, Singler said.
Fogel also asked Singler about conducting the execution solely with a
large dose of sodium pentothal or another barbiturate, which would
eliminate the possibility of a conscious inmate suffering the sensation of
suffocation from the pancuronium bromide and the burning pain of potassium
chloride.
The proposed change has 2 drawbacks, Singler said: Death would take 20 to
40 minutes, at least twice the current average, and a rare inmate might
survive even a heavy dose of the barbiturate.
He said the possibility of accidents would be lessened by new procedures
that the state announced in March, after Morales' stay of execution.
The initial dose of sodium pentothal would be diminished, a change
recommended to officials by Singler, who said the previous dose might be
causing shock that would interfere with the effects of the other drugs.
After that injection, sodium pentothal would be infused steadily into the
prisoner's other arm to keep him unconsciousness throughout the execution.
(source: San Francisco Chronicle)