Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 4, 2006 12:01:18 GMT -5
Will execution Bush wants take place?
While Gov. Jeb Bush has started signing death warrants again in Florida,
don't expect serial killer Danny Rolling or other death row inmates to be
executed anytime soon.
Some death penalty experts say executions in the state are likely to be
delayed until the courts decide whether the lethal injection method is cruel
and unusual punishment. The courts face complicated questions over the
chemicals used in the procedure, the people giving those chemicals and
oversight of executions, said Deborah Denno, a Fordham University law
professor and expert on lethal injection.
"There are many aspects of the procedure that are problematic," she said.
Bush last month signed a death warrant for convicted cop killer Clarence
Hill, setting his execution date for Sept. 20. A spokeswoman for Bush said
he wanted to spur the courts into deciding Hill's challenge of the lethal
injection method of execution.
Hill was strapped to a gurney waiting to be injected with lethal chemicals
when the U.S. Supreme Court stayed his execution. The court then ruled in
June that Hill may challenge the state's execution method, leading Bush to
declare he wouldn't sign another death warrant until the case was
resolved.
Bush's decision to later sign another warrant had questionable timing, said
Todd Doss, a Lake City attorney representing Hill.
"To put it into motion like that seems to be designed to prevent Mr. Hill's
claim from going forward," Doss said.
Last week, the case was sent to the U.S. District Court to be heard. The
state then filed a motion asking the case be dismissed and any additional
stay of execution be denied.
Florida's lethal injection method doesn't have the problems seen in some
other states, said Carolyn Snurkowski, assistant deputy attorney general.
"There's a whole list of issues out there . . . that seem to be unique to
other states," she said.
The state Department of Corrections refuses to comment on the execution
method, referring reporters to a 2000 legal filing that provided some
information about the procedure. According to the filing, the inmate is
first injected with an anesthetic, followed by a drug to paralyze the
muscles. Potassium chloride is then injected to stop the inmate's heart.
Doss said said the procedure appears to use less anesthetic than in
California, where the courts determined levels were too low in ordering
changes.
"It looks like we have even more problems" than other states, he said.
Hill and inmates around the country have cited a study by University of
Miami physicians in their challenges.
The study found post-death blood concentrations of anesthetic were lower
than required for surgery in 43 of 49 executed inmates in other states,
suggesting the procedure could allow inmates to wake and feel pain.
Bill Cervone, state attorney for the district that includes Gainesville,
called such challenges "a sham" and said they are merely a stalling
method.
He lamented the resulting delay in the execution of Rolling, who was
sentenced to death for killing five Gainesville college students in 1990 and
has exhausted his appeals.
"I don't think that many people are concerned that Danny Rolling might
experience some discomfort through the execution process," he said.
He said he would be surprised if Hill's case forced major changes in the
execution method.
"I just can't believe they are going to micromanage the issue to that
extreme," he said.
Florida's political leaders are unlikely to make changes to the death
penalty on their own, said Dan Smith, a political science professor at the
University of Florida.
A new governor from either party likely won't do something "unless we have
some high-profile miscarriage of justice," he said.
He said the election of Republican Charlie Crist or Democrat Rod Smith -
gubernatorial candidates with backgrounds prosecuting criminal cases,
including the Rolling case - would make such changes even less likely.
"Neither of them are going to back down in their support of the death
penalty," he said.
Denno said the state would face a dilemma if the courts forced more medical
oversight of the lethal injection method.
She pointed to cases in Missouri and California, where courts required
physicians be involved in the procedures but had problems finding any who
would take part.
"The issue becomes: Who's going to be doing these kind of injections?" she
said.
Florida faced a situation similar to the current debate in the 1990s, after
its electric chair caused flames to shoot from an inmate's head during an
execution.
The U.S. Supreme Court was poised to rule on whether the method was cruel
and unusual when the state allowed lethal injection as an alternate method,
eliminating the basis of the challenge.
Denno said the state lacks another alternative method that would allow it to
escape the new legal challenges.
"Florida's sort of backed into a new corner," she said.
**
Death Row developments
- Jan. 24: Convicted cop killer Clarence Hill is strapped to a gurney
waiting to be executed at Florida State Prison near Raiford when the U.S.
Supreme Court issues a stay of execution.
- Feb. 1: Gov. Jeb Bush says he'll stop signing death warrants until the
Hill case is resolved.
- June 12: The U.S. Supreme Court rules Hill and other inmates may challenge
the lethal-injection method of execution under a federal civil rights law.
- Aug. 17: Bush issues a new order to execute Hill to spur the courts into
deciding his case.
- Sept. 20: The date Hill's execution is scheduled for.
(source: Gainesville Sun)
While Gov. Jeb Bush has started signing death warrants again in Florida,
don't expect serial killer Danny Rolling or other death row inmates to be
executed anytime soon.
Some death penalty experts say executions in the state are likely to be
delayed until the courts decide whether the lethal injection method is cruel
and unusual punishment. The courts face complicated questions over the
chemicals used in the procedure, the people giving those chemicals and
oversight of executions, said Deborah Denno, a Fordham University law
professor and expert on lethal injection.
"There are many aspects of the procedure that are problematic," she said.
Bush last month signed a death warrant for convicted cop killer Clarence
Hill, setting his execution date for Sept. 20. A spokeswoman for Bush said
he wanted to spur the courts into deciding Hill's challenge of the lethal
injection method of execution.
Hill was strapped to a gurney waiting to be injected with lethal chemicals
when the U.S. Supreme Court stayed his execution. The court then ruled in
June that Hill may challenge the state's execution method, leading Bush to
declare he wouldn't sign another death warrant until the case was
resolved.
Bush's decision to later sign another warrant had questionable timing, said
Todd Doss, a Lake City attorney representing Hill.
"To put it into motion like that seems to be designed to prevent Mr. Hill's
claim from going forward," Doss said.
Last week, the case was sent to the U.S. District Court to be heard. The
state then filed a motion asking the case be dismissed and any additional
stay of execution be denied.
Florida's lethal injection method doesn't have the problems seen in some
other states, said Carolyn Snurkowski, assistant deputy attorney general.
"There's a whole list of issues out there . . . that seem to be unique to
other states," she said.
The state Department of Corrections refuses to comment on the execution
method, referring reporters to a 2000 legal filing that provided some
information about the procedure. According to the filing, the inmate is
first injected with an anesthetic, followed by a drug to paralyze the
muscles. Potassium chloride is then injected to stop the inmate's heart.
Doss said said the procedure appears to use less anesthetic than in
California, where the courts determined levels were too low in ordering
changes.
"It looks like we have even more problems" than other states, he said.
Hill and inmates around the country have cited a study by University of
Miami physicians in their challenges.
The study found post-death blood concentrations of anesthetic were lower
than required for surgery in 43 of 49 executed inmates in other states,
suggesting the procedure could allow inmates to wake and feel pain.
Bill Cervone, state attorney for the district that includes Gainesville,
called such challenges "a sham" and said they are merely a stalling
method.
He lamented the resulting delay in the execution of Rolling, who was
sentenced to death for killing five Gainesville college students in 1990 and
has exhausted his appeals.
"I don't think that many people are concerned that Danny Rolling might
experience some discomfort through the execution process," he said.
He said he would be surprised if Hill's case forced major changes in the
execution method.
"I just can't believe they are going to micromanage the issue to that
extreme," he said.
Florida's political leaders are unlikely to make changes to the death
penalty on their own, said Dan Smith, a political science professor at the
University of Florida.
A new governor from either party likely won't do something "unless we have
some high-profile miscarriage of justice," he said.
He said the election of Republican Charlie Crist or Democrat Rod Smith -
gubernatorial candidates with backgrounds prosecuting criminal cases,
including the Rolling case - would make such changes even less likely.
"Neither of them are going to back down in their support of the death
penalty," he said.
Denno said the state would face a dilemma if the courts forced more medical
oversight of the lethal injection method.
She pointed to cases in Missouri and California, where courts required
physicians be involved in the procedures but had problems finding any who
would take part.
"The issue becomes: Who's going to be doing these kind of injections?" she
said.
Florida faced a situation similar to the current debate in the 1990s, after
its electric chair caused flames to shoot from an inmate's head during an
execution.
The U.S. Supreme Court was poised to rule on whether the method was cruel
and unusual when the state allowed lethal injection as an alternate method,
eliminating the basis of the challenge.
Denno said the state lacks another alternative method that would allow it to
escape the new legal challenges.
"Florida's sort of backed into a new corner," she said.
**
Death Row developments
- Jan. 24: Convicted cop killer Clarence Hill is strapped to a gurney
waiting to be executed at Florida State Prison near Raiford when the U.S.
Supreme Court issues a stay of execution.
- Feb. 1: Gov. Jeb Bush says he'll stop signing death warrants until the
Hill case is resolved.
- June 12: The U.S. Supreme Court rules Hill and other inmates may challenge
the lethal-injection method of execution under a federal civil rights law.
- Aug. 17: Bush issues a new order to execute Hill to spur the courts into
deciding his case.
- Sept. 20: The date Hill's execution is scheduled for.
(source: Gainesville Sun)