Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 26, 2006 15:22:15 GMT -5
Evans suit leads to changes----Lethal injections modified after action
filed, execution official testifies
Maryland corrections officials recently modified their lethal injection
procedures, adding better lighting in the room where the deadly drugs are
injected and requiring a nursing assistant who inserts the intravenous
catheters into the condemned prisoner's arms to remain in that room -
perhaps in disguise - throughout the execution, a member of the state's
execution team testified in a videotaped deposition played yesterday in
federal court.
The man - identified only as the execution team commander - said the
changes were made in response to the lawsuit filed by death row inmate
Vernon L. Evans Jr., whose attorneys have challenged Maryland's lethal
injection procedures as unconstitutional and in violation of the Eighth
Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
A. Stephen Hut Jr., who is leading Evans' defense team, told the judge
hearing the case that the changes are "undoubtedly steps in the right
direction." But he said that the state "essentially plucked low-hanging
fruit," and that the modifications don't go far enough.
He has asked U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg to incorporate those
changes into a court order that requires Maryland officials to hire
medically qualified people to participate in the insertion of the IV
catheters and in the administration of the lethal doses of drugs, among
other tasks.
Laura Mullally, an assistant attorney general representing the state, has
countered that an execution is not a medical procedure and should not be
held to the same standards as surgery.
Evans, 56, was sentenced to death in 1992 for the contract killings of
David Scott Piechowicz and his sister-in-law, Susan Kennedy. They were
gunned down April 28, 1983, with a submachine pistol at the Pikesville
motel where they worked.
Piechowicz and his wife, Cheryl, also a motel employee, had been scheduled
to testify in a federal narcotics case against a Baltimore drug lord.
The witnesses testified about the changes in Maryland's lethal injection
protocol on the fourth day of trial, which also brought 3 more members of
the state's execution team to the witness stand and the playing of
snippets of videotaped depositions of two other current members and a
former member.
Because team members' identities are protected, they have been referred to
by code names, and the courtroom was closed when they testified, with a
live audio feed piping their comments into another room of the courthouse.
Similarly, video monitors in the courtroom were turned off when clips of
their depositions were played.
A correctional officer who helps mix the drugs and set up the equipment,
identified in court as "Injection Team A," testified that the team
regularly practices the lethal injection procedures on a fake arm that is
placed on the steel, T-shaped table in the execution chamber.
A man who served as execution commander for the May 1994 execution of John
Frederick Thanos and previously drafted Maryland's lethal injection
procedures testified in a videotaped deposition that he essentially copied
Delaware's protocol and, during questioning by Evans' attorneys, could
answer few questions about the procedures or the drugs used.
Also, the newly appointed execution commander - the team member who stands
in the corner of the execution chamber and oversees the entire operation -
testified during his deposition that he has received no training in mixing
drugs, setting up the lethal injection equipment, administering
anesthesia, assessing whether a prisoner remains unconscious or inserting
an IV.
Asked by one of Evans' lawyers what training he received to become
execution commander, the man responded, "No specialized training."
It was the execution team commander - the man stationed during executions
in the preparation room where he oversees the injection of an anesthetic,
a paralyzing drug and a heart-stopping chemical into the inmate's IV line
- who testified about the changes made last month to the lethal injection
procedures.
He explained that in addition to adding a light in the preparation room
and requiring the nursing assistant to remain in the execution chamber
while the prisoner is put to death, the state Division of Correction will
also decrease the pressure with which the saline solution - and later the
lethal mixture of chemicals - flows into the inmate through the IV.
Medical experts testifying for Evans have explained that running fluid too
forcefully through an IV can cause the blood vessels to rupture, spilling
the lethal chemicals into surrounding tissue rather than the circulatory
system of the inmate being put to death.
Evans, his attorneys contend, is at particular risk of this after decades
of intravenous heroin use that have ravaged his veins.
In the deposition of the execution team commander, Evans' lawyers asked
whether it would be possible to also keep the team members responsible for
injecting syringes into the IV in the execution chamber. Doing so would
eliminate the need for potentially leaky lengths of IV tubing that run
from the inmate's arms, through a portal in the wall and into the
preparation room, which is shielded by a one-way window.
"That needs to remain behind a wall, behind a window, behind a door," the
man responded. "That process should not be open to public scrutiny. In my
belief, it's a private process. ... Why not televise it if you're going to
go that far?"
Evans' trial is scheduled to continue today with testimony from a witness
to a botched execution in Ohio during which the condemned man lifted his
head and declared, "It don't work."
Attorneys for the state are scheduled to present their case over 4days in
October, followed by closing arguments from both sides.
Scheduled to be put to death in early February, Evans' execution was
ostponed Feb. 6 when Maryland's highest court decided to hear 4 legal
challenges. A decision is pending from the Court of Appeals.
(source: The Baltimore Sun)
filed, execution official testifies
Maryland corrections officials recently modified their lethal injection
procedures, adding better lighting in the room where the deadly drugs are
injected and requiring a nursing assistant who inserts the intravenous
catheters into the condemned prisoner's arms to remain in that room -
perhaps in disguise - throughout the execution, a member of the state's
execution team testified in a videotaped deposition played yesterday in
federal court.
The man - identified only as the execution team commander - said the
changes were made in response to the lawsuit filed by death row inmate
Vernon L. Evans Jr., whose attorneys have challenged Maryland's lethal
injection procedures as unconstitutional and in violation of the Eighth
Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
A. Stephen Hut Jr., who is leading Evans' defense team, told the judge
hearing the case that the changes are "undoubtedly steps in the right
direction." But he said that the state "essentially plucked low-hanging
fruit," and that the modifications don't go far enough.
He has asked U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg to incorporate those
changes into a court order that requires Maryland officials to hire
medically qualified people to participate in the insertion of the IV
catheters and in the administration of the lethal doses of drugs, among
other tasks.
Laura Mullally, an assistant attorney general representing the state, has
countered that an execution is not a medical procedure and should not be
held to the same standards as surgery.
Evans, 56, was sentenced to death in 1992 for the contract killings of
David Scott Piechowicz and his sister-in-law, Susan Kennedy. They were
gunned down April 28, 1983, with a submachine pistol at the Pikesville
motel where they worked.
Piechowicz and his wife, Cheryl, also a motel employee, had been scheduled
to testify in a federal narcotics case against a Baltimore drug lord.
The witnesses testified about the changes in Maryland's lethal injection
protocol on the fourth day of trial, which also brought 3 more members of
the state's execution team to the witness stand and the playing of
snippets of videotaped depositions of two other current members and a
former member.
Because team members' identities are protected, they have been referred to
by code names, and the courtroom was closed when they testified, with a
live audio feed piping their comments into another room of the courthouse.
Similarly, video monitors in the courtroom were turned off when clips of
their depositions were played.
A correctional officer who helps mix the drugs and set up the equipment,
identified in court as "Injection Team A," testified that the team
regularly practices the lethal injection procedures on a fake arm that is
placed on the steel, T-shaped table in the execution chamber.
A man who served as execution commander for the May 1994 execution of John
Frederick Thanos and previously drafted Maryland's lethal injection
procedures testified in a videotaped deposition that he essentially copied
Delaware's protocol and, during questioning by Evans' attorneys, could
answer few questions about the procedures or the drugs used.
Also, the newly appointed execution commander - the team member who stands
in the corner of the execution chamber and oversees the entire operation -
testified during his deposition that he has received no training in mixing
drugs, setting up the lethal injection equipment, administering
anesthesia, assessing whether a prisoner remains unconscious or inserting
an IV.
Asked by one of Evans' lawyers what training he received to become
execution commander, the man responded, "No specialized training."
It was the execution team commander - the man stationed during executions
in the preparation room where he oversees the injection of an anesthetic,
a paralyzing drug and a heart-stopping chemical into the inmate's IV line
- who testified about the changes made last month to the lethal injection
procedures.
He explained that in addition to adding a light in the preparation room
and requiring the nursing assistant to remain in the execution chamber
while the prisoner is put to death, the state Division of Correction will
also decrease the pressure with which the saline solution - and later the
lethal mixture of chemicals - flows into the inmate through the IV.
Medical experts testifying for Evans have explained that running fluid too
forcefully through an IV can cause the blood vessels to rupture, spilling
the lethal chemicals into surrounding tissue rather than the circulatory
system of the inmate being put to death.
Evans, his attorneys contend, is at particular risk of this after decades
of intravenous heroin use that have ravaged his veins.
In the deposition of the execution team commander, Evans' lawyers asked
whether it would be possible to also keep the team members responsible for
injecting syringes into the IV in the execution chamber. Doing so would
eliminate the need for potentially leaky lengths of IV tubing that run
from the inmate's arms, through a portal in the wall and into the
preparation room, which is shielded by a one-way window.
"That needs to remain behind a wall, behind a window, behind a door," the
man responded. "That process should not be open to public scrutiny. In my
belief, it's a private process. ... Why not televise it if you're going to
go that far?"
Evans' trial is scheduled to continue today with testimony from a witness
to a botched execution in Ohio during which the condemned man lifted his
head and declared, "It don't work."
Attorneys for the state are scheduled to present their case over 4days in
October, followed by closing arguments from both sides.
Scheduled to be put to death in early February, Evans' execution was
ostponed Feb. 6 when Maryland's highest court decided to hear 4 legal
challenges. A decision is pending from the Court of Appeals.
(source: The Baltimore Sun)