Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 4, 2006 12:03:26 GMT -5
Oklahoma has executed 83 with same law as South Dakota
Oklahoma has executed 83 people since 1990 using three drugs, despite having
a law that has the same 2-drug requirement as South Dakota.
The latest execution in Oklahoma was Tuesday -- the same day Gov. Mike
Rounds delayed the lethal injection death of Elijah Page, saying the
conflict between law and practice created liability concerns.
"No one's raised that issue here," Oklahoma Department of Corrections
spokesman Jerry Massie told the Rapid City Journal.
North Carolina also has a 2-drug law. But in 2003 the North Carolina
Supreme Court upheld executions using three drugs, ruling the Legislature
did not intend to limit the number of drugs used.
Larry Long, South Dakota's attorney general, said at least 10 states have
2-drug laws and 9 of them have executed people with 3 drugs.
Long said South Dakota's law didn't apply because Page, 24, had waived all
constitutional and statutory rights when he asked to be put to death for
the 2000 torture murder of Chester Allan Poage.
"The governor said, 'I don't care. If we're going to do an execution in
South Dakota, we're going to do it according to the rules,"' Long said.
Rounds delayed Page's execution until at least July, which will give the
Legislature time to change the law.
In an interview with the Argus Leader, Rounds expounded on why he put it
off.
Had Page been put to death using the 2 drugs required by law, it would
have been so appalling to the roughly 2 dozen witnesses that it could have
ended capital punishment in the state, he said.
Page would have died quickly, but his body could have continued to twitch
for a half-hour or more, the governor said.
"There would have been a lot of revulsion on the part of the family -- and
they don't deserve that -- and on the part of the observers and on the part
of the individuals we expect to carry out the penalty who had not been
trained for a 2-drug execution," Rounds said. "We would never have
executed an individual in the future."
Dr. Jonathan Groner, associate professor at the Ohio State University
College of Medicine, said an execution can produce a sight that witnesses
find appalling but he questioned the point Rounds was trying to make.
The 2 drugs used under South Dakota's law would be a barbiturate that
induces a coma and a muscle relaxant that paralyzes the body, each of which
is sufficient to kill, he said.
"Thus, there would be no twitching," Groner said.
Rounds also defended himself from criticism of lawmakers who said he
shifted responsibility to the them.
Garry Moore, Senate Democratic leader from Yankton, said Rounds' actions
appeared to be linked to the Nov. 6 election. The governor is seeking a
second term and voters will approve or reject a ban on abortion.
Some critics have said the abortion ban ties in to the Page case because if
life is sacred before birth, that sanctity also should keep a state from
putting a criminal to death.
"I think he was waiting for Page to ask for a stay," Moore said. "Page
didn't ask, and the governor was getting concerned. The governor blinks and
calls a stay. I think a lot of this is tied to the abortion issue."
Rounds denied that.
"There's simply no logic to what Mr. Moore is suggesting," he told the Argus
Leader.
On Saturday, Poage's mother, Dottie Poage, asked Rounds to reconsider his
decision and go through with the execution right away.
"It is ridiculous that you waited until the last minute to determine what
the law was and in the meantime you jerked my family around," she said in
the statement given to reporters in Rapid City.
In his own written statement, Rounds said he can't imagine the pain the
Poage family has endured but that the decision was justified and not
political.
"If politics were the motivation, we would have let the execution proceed
and closed our eyes to the law," the governor said.
Rounds told the Argus he thinks the Legislature will change the law to call
for 3 drugs. And he predicted Page will be put to death almost immediately
after the stay of execution expires July 1.
Asked whether death penalty opponents had thanked him for sparing Page, he
said his office had received calls.
"They may be surprised to find I'm more convinced now than ever there is,
unfortunately, a place for the death penalty in South Dakota. I could not
get past the fact that these individuals, if they ever came off death row,
would be in a position to harm others," he said.
(source: Associated Press)
Oklahoma has executed 83 people since 1990 using three drugs, despite having
a law that has the same 2-drug requirement as South Dakota.
The latest execution in Oklahoma was Tuesday -- the same day Gov. Mike
Rounds delayed the lethal injection death of Elijah Page, saying the
conflict between law and practice created liability concerns.
"No one's raised that issue here," Oklahoma Department of Corrections
spokesman Jerry Massie told the Rapid City Journal.
North Carolina also has a 2-drug law. But in 2003 the North Carolina
Supreme Court upheld executions using three drugs, ruling the Legislature
did not intend to limit the number of drugs used.
Larry Long, South Dakota's attorney general, said at least 10 states have
2-drug laws and 9 of them have executed people with 3 drugs.
Long said South Dakota's law didn't apply because Page, 24, had waived all
constitutional and statutory rights when he asked to be put to death for
the 2000 torture murder of Chester Allan Poage.
"The governor said, 'I don't care. If we're going to do an execution in
South Dakota, we're going to do it according to the rules,"' Long said.
Rounds delayed Page's execution until at least July, which will give the
Legislature time to change the law.
In an interview with the Argus Leader, Rounds expounded on why he put it
off.
Had Page been put to death using the 2 drugs required by law, it would
have been so appalling to the roughly 2 dozen witnesses that it could have
ended capital punishment in the state, he said.
Page would have died quickly, but his body could have continued to twitch
for a half-hour or more, the governor said.
"There would have been a lot of revulsion on the part of the family -- and
they don't deserve that -- and on the part of the observers and on the part
of the individuals we expect to carry out the penalty who had not been
trained for a 2-drug execution," Rounds said. "We would never have
executed an individual in the future."
Dr. Jonathan Groner, associate professor at the Ohio State University
College of Medicine, said an execution can produce a sight that witnesses
find appalling but he questioned the point Rounds was trying to make.
The 2 drugs used under South Dakota's law would be a barbiturate that
induces a coma and a muscle relaxant that paralyzes the body, each of which
is sufficient to kill, he said.
"Thus, there would be no twitching," Groner said.
Rounds also defended himself from criticism of lawmakers who said he
shifted responsibility to the them.
Garry Moore, Senate Democratic leader from Yankton, said Rounds' actions
appeared to be linked to the Nov. 6 election. The governor is seeking a
second term and voters will approve or reject a ban on abortion.
Some critics have said the abortion ban ties in to the Page case because if
life is sacred before birth, that sanctity also should keep a state from
putting a criminal to death.
"I think he was waiting for Page to ask for a stay," Moore said. "Page
didn't ask, and the governor was getting concerned. The governor blinks and
calls a stay. I think a lot of this is tied to the abortion issue."
Rounds denied that.
"There's simply no logic to what Mr. Moore is suggesting," he told the Argus
Leader.
On Saturday, Poage's mother, Dottie Poage, asked Rounds to reconsider his
decision and go through with the execution right away.
"It is ridiculous that you waited until the last minute to determine what
the law was and in the meantime you jerked my family around," she said in
the statement given to reporters in Rapid City.
In his own written statement, Rounds said he can't imagine the pain the
Poage family has endured but that the decision was justified and not
political.
"If politics were the motivation, we would have let the execution proceed
and closed our eyes to the law," the governor said.
Rounds told the Argus he thinks the Legislature will change the law to call
for 3 drugs. And he predicted Page will be put to death almost immediately
after the stay of execution expires July 1.
Asked whether death penalty opponents had thanked him for sparing Page, he
said his office had received calls.
"They may be surprised to find I'm more convinced now than ever there is,
unfortunately, a place for the death penalty in South Dakota. I could not
get past the fact that these individuals, if they ever came off death row,
would be in a position to harm others," he said.
(source: Associated Press)