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Florida's governor halted all executions in the state until a commission can investigate and report what went wrong with the lethal injection of Angel Nieves Diaz on December 13. Gov. Jeb Bush issued an executive order announcing a panel of experts to make recommendations for changes to the process and said that no death warrants will be signed until modifications are adopted. Diaz's execution took more than twice as long as normal and required two rounds of the lethal chemicals. Witnesses stated that Diaz appeared to be moving, grimacing, and trying to mouth words after the first injection.
Hours later on Friday, U.S. District Judge Jeremey Fogel ruled that California 's process of lethal injection was "broken" and violated the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments. He noted a "pervasive lack of professionalism" in the supervising of executions. His ruling followed extensive hearings over many months to try to find a solution to the lethal injection controversy. The execution of Michael Morales in California was halted at the 11th hour early in the year after doctors, who were called in to supervise the lethal injection, decided that they could not do so for ethical reasons. Both Gov. Bush and Judge Fogel indicated that modifications to the lethal injection process may still allow the method to be used in the future.
Officials in Florida had earlier indicated that Diaz's lengthy execution may have been due to a pre-existing medical condition. But doctors interviewed indicated that there were likely problems with the execution process. "I'm at a loss to explain all those occurrences," said Dr. Rafael Miguel, a University of South Florida professor who is president of the Florida Society of Anesthesiologists. "It just makes it hard to make any conclusion about what happened."
"If he really moved for that amount of time, there was some huge problem," said Dr. Jonathan Groner, an associate professor for surgery at Ohio State University who has testified in death penalty cases. "One can only surmise that he did not become unconscious and he felt pain." (See St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 15, 2006, N.Y. Times, Dec. 15 & 16, 2006; Washington Post, Dec. 16, 2006).
Diaz's execution was the last one scheduled in the country this year. He was the 53rd person executed this year, and the fourth in Florida. On the whole, executions are down 12% from last year and down over 45% since 1999.
 Death Penalty Information Center, December 17, 2006.
A lire sur le Net : "So Long As They Die - Lethal Injections in the United States" a report by Human Rights Watch.
Experts: Botched Execution Was Painful
OCALA, Florida (AP) -- Death penalty foes have warned for years of the possibility that an inmate being executed by lethal injection could remain conscious, experiencing severe pain as he slowly dies.
That day may have arrived.
Angel Nieves Diaz, a career criminal executed for killing a Miami topless bar manager 27 years ago, was given a rare second dose of deadly chemicals as he took more than twice the usual time to succumb.
Needles that were supposed to inject drugs into the 55-year-old man's veins were instead pushed all the way through the blood vessels into surrounding soft tissue. A medical examiner said he had chemical burns on both arms.
"It really sounds like he was tortured to death," said Jonathan Groner, associate professor of surgery at the Ohio State Medical School, a surgeon who opposes the death penalty and writes frequently about lethal injection. "My impression is that it would cause an extreme amount of pain."
The error in Diaz's execution led Gov. Jeb Bush to suspend all executions Friday. Separately, a federal judge extended a moratorium on executions in California, declaring that its method of lethal injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Three-drug cocktail
They were just the latest challenges to lethal injection -- the preferred execution method in 37 states. Missouri's injection method, similar to California's, was declared unconstitutional last month by a federal judge. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld executions despite the pain they might cause, but has left unsettled the issue of whether the pain is unconstitutionally excessive.
Diaz was given three drugs to deaden pain, paralyze the body and cause a fatal heart attack. A study published last year in the British medical journal The Lancet concluded that the painkiller, sodium pentothal, could wear off before inmates die, subjecting them to excruciating pain when the potassium chloride causes a heart attack.
That study has been cited in unsuccessful appeals for death row inmates, who have claimed any pain experienced during lethal injection violates the cruel and unusual standard.
Dr. Nik Gravenstein, professor and chairman of anesthesiology at the University of Florida, said it is impossible to say how much pain the chemicals produce since inmates can't be interviewed while being executed, but he said patients given lower levels of the same chemicals for various treatments "describe this as being painful."
Dr. William Hamilton, the Gainesville medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Diaz, refused to say if Diaz died painfully until the autopsy is complete.
Florida Corrections Secretary James McDonough said the execution team did not see any swelling of Diaz's arms that would have indicated that the chemicals were going into tissues and not his veins.
McDonough also said reports that he received indicated Diaz had fallen asleep and was snoring.
However, witnesses reported Diaz was moving as long as 24 minutes after the first injection, including grimacing, blinking, licking his lips, blowing and attempting to mouth words.
34 minutes to die
It took 34 minutes for Diaz to die. Executions by lethal injection normally take about 15 minutes, with the inmate unconscious and motionless within three to five minutes.
Gravenstein said it can be difficult to get IV needles in their proper place. In a hospital setting, the average is 1.6 tries to successfully place an IV.
"The whole process has a lot of opportunity not to go as intended," he said.
He said someone should have realized what was happening.
"To have given somebody many times what is necessary and then to give them many more times again, it doesn't pass what one might call the 'red face test.' It just doesn't make sense. You have to be suspicious that something's not right," Gravenstein said.
Dr. Philip Lumb, chairman of the anesthesiology department at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, was critical of the second dosage given to Diaz. He said he has never made any statements for or against the death penalty.
"If an IV has to be given a second time, it is an indication it has not done right the first time," Lumb said.
An attorney representing Diaz's family, D. Todd Doss, said legal action was being considered.
"We are still grieving. It continues to get worse and worse, learning the details of what happened," said Sol Otero, Diaz' niece from Orlando. "The excruciating pain and torture my uncle went through for 34 minutes. He was literally crucified."
-- The Associated Press .
Lire également article dans Le Monde.fr
A lire sur le Net : "So Long As They Die - Lethal Injections in the United States" a report by Human Rights Watch.
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