Lethal Injection Father Defends Creation [good read]

AP via Guardian (U.K.) ^ | May 10, 2007 | PAUL ELIAS

[jdm]

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) - Thirty years ago, Oklahoma Medical Examiner Dr. A. Jay Chapman marched into the Oklahoma Statehouse and dictated the formula for a cocktail of three drugs to a lawmaker looking for a more humane way to execute the condemned.

As Chapman spoke, Rep. Bill Wiseman scribbled on a legal yellow pad. That afternoon, Wiseman introduced the bill that made Oklahoma the first state to adopt lethal injection.

Chapman's method has since been taken up by 37 states in all, the federal government and the U.S. military and has been used to execute 900 U.S. prisoners.

But the formula and the way it is administered are now under broad legal assault around the country as a violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, with activists arguing that Chapman's protocol was hastily conceived and that some prisoners suffer excruciating pain without being able to cry out.

Chapman still sees it as a humane way to kill the worst criminals.

``Everything is political correctness and everyone wants to be a victim today,'' said the cantankerous 68-year-old Chapman, who lives alone in Santa Rosa when he is not teaching medicine in Nepal or trekking in the Himalayas. ``All of the sudden, the person on death row is a victim. I reject that thinking, by and large, because these people made choices to do what they did.''

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

..some prisoners suffer excruciating pain..

Isn't that the whole point ? I would say skip the first drug altogether (drug that causes unconsciousness)

[SWAMPSNIPER]

``There is absolutely nothing wrong with the guillotine,’’ he said impatiently. ``It can be operated by an idiot and it is a very effective instrument.’’

[LibFreeOrDie]

Dr. Kevorkian used the SAME trio of chemicals when he euthanized several people, including the man he killed on “60 Minutes” several years ago.

So how come the libs thought the chemicals were great for euthanizing innocent people, but now they think it’s cruel and unusual when applied to convicted murderers?

[verum ago]

In the Great State of Idaho lethal injection is the method of execution, but should it prove “impractical” because it is not “reasonably possible” to obtain the “expert technical assistance” necessary to perform the execution in such a way that death will be caused “without unnecessary suffering,” then say helloooooo to the firing squad.

[Species8472]

I would say skip the first drug altogether

I agree, but for a different reason. By making someone unconscious prior to killing them, do we deny them the last chance for repentance?

[Pikachu_Dad]

Kill them like we do our cows.

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

By making someone unconscious prior to killing them, do we deny them the last chance for repentance?

There you go. What better way to make someone repent than make them scream in agony.

Oh wait, they can't scream. Their muscles are paralyzed.

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

Kill them like we do our cows.

I wouldn't use that comparison. Regardless of whats done to cows, cows are innocent.

[chesley]

Heck, there was nothing wrong with hanging and shooting as execution methods. Efficient, final, and, in the case of hanging, with an appropriate amount of shame involved.