Posted on 08/10/2018 8:51:15 AM PDT by KingofZion
Tennessee executed Billy Ray Irick on Thursday night, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a final request to stay his execution. Convicted of the 1985 rape and murder of 7-year-old Paula Dyer, Irick is the state’s first inmate to be put to death since 2009. He was also the first to receive Tennessee’s controversial new three-drug cocktail.
Thursday’s lethal injection was made up of compounded midazolam, used to render a person unable to feel pain during an execution, a paralytic drug called vecuronium bromide, and compounded potassium chloride for the killing agent. Potassium chloride has been described by the Supreme Court as “chemically burning at the stake.”
In recent years, there have been numerous executions where witness accounts raised questions about whether the inmates were sufficiently anesthetized when the killing drugs were administered. These performances have raised questions about Midazolam’s effectiveness as a sedative in executions. Thursday’s application for a stay of execution followed a lower state court determination that the new combination of drugs may not be not chemically appropriate.
*** The request to delay was referred to the U.S. Supreme Court by Justice Elena Kagan. The only noted dissent was from Justice Sonia Sotomayor; the court’s order did not specify how the other justices would have voted. Irick’s is the first death-penalty case that’s come to the court since Justice Anthony M. Kennedy retired July 31, which left the court shorthanded.
“Although the Midazolam may temporarily render Irick unconscious, the onset of pain and suffocation will rouse him. And it may do so just as the paralysis sets in, too late for him to alert bystanders that his execution has gone horribly (if predictably) wrong,” wrote Sotomayor. The dissent echoes comments she made last year aimed at Midazolam in a case involving an Alabama inmate.
***MORE
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Yes, he was mentally unstable, but not so unstable that he didn't know what he was doing. He confessed it as soon as the police picked him up. He knew he had left physical evidence in and on little Paula's bloody, raped and battered body.
He was on death row for 33 YEARS before his execution.
Typo. “Paula’s”.
The road got much wider with Roe v Wade.
Let's hope she's finally right about something.
An injection of Black Leaf-40 will do the same. Should have been done thirty years ago.
Over thirty years? The murderers of Presidents Garfield and McKinley, and Chicago Anton Cermak were executed within 60 days from being found guilty.
In some cases we need to follow the instructions of Dean Martin in ROUGH NIGHT IN JERICHO.
“Lock him up. We’ll hang him tomorrow right after the trial.”
Good job, Tenn.
In 2015 and 2016 I had surgery for Stage II colon cancer and a resulting surgical hernia. Same experience. Anesthesia was fine; all the pain came after the surgery.
That is why I recommend Nitrogen. I have no desire to torture people to death, not even the foulest murderer. A death sentence, IMHO, should be executed in a swift and sure manner, with little possibility for failure, and without damaging the soul of the executioner. Nitrogen asphyxia is perfect.
Midazolam doesn’t work on some people, for example me. Still remember being awake at the start of my hernia operation. Docs thought I was out. I wasn’t but could not move or speak. Fortunately I also could not feel any pain, just some pressure.
That said, I could not care less if the scumbag suffered horrible pain.
interesting how worried people of pain that might last 3 minutes. death is usually painful and not a good thing. theses monsters usually were not thinking of the pain and suffering they caused when they did there crimes. it does not bother me that they suffer hen they are guilty. I my self don’t like the death penalty for only one reason....I don’t trust government with the death penalty but arguing pain and suffering is not a valid argument when talking about the death penalty.
Nitrogen asphyxiation. Painless and works every time.
L
>>>Alternatively, hanging is quick, relatively pain-free, and rope is free<<<
The Rope isn’t free, but it’s really cheap to buy at Harbor Freight.
What is wrong with a firing squad? Load them up with fentanyl and shoot the bastards.
I don’t understand all this hand wringing over how to execute someone “humanely”. Offing someone is not humane but sometimes necessary.
Barbarism is murdering the innocents; seems Sotomeyer is okay with allowing the killing of babies but cries over the execution of a murderer who “might” suffer unnecessary pain; the murderer becomes the victim according to liberals.
I meant to type cheap, lol.
To make up for my mistake, I’ll donate the rope to the next legal hanging in the US, ;-).
A Bullet is even cheaper but the Murdering SOB didn’t deserve to die so easily.
Quiet reflection while standing on a Trap Door would have been the way to go. Maybe even a few practice pulls of the Lever to increase the intensity of the moment.
They should have put a picture on his Victim on the ceiling of the Death Chamber to remind him of why is was being executed. The last thing he saw before his trip to Hell.
So, after they put you under initially, they could have taken you out and you would never have known right. So, are the prison cocktails designed to cause pain and suffering? I think not.
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