Bruce Shapiro

Questioning Capital Punishment
the Nation by BRUCE SHAPIRO
[posted online on December 24, 2006]

In the long, contentious history of capital punishment in America, there has never been a moment like this: Over just a few days in mid-December, judges in California and Maryland and the governor of Florida shut down any pending
executions in those states--all because of rapidly growing doubts about the humanity and constitutionality of lethal injection. In less than a week, 1,052 death-row inmates were thrust at least temporarily beyond reach of the
needle.

At first glance, the impact of each of these death penalty moratoria might seem limited. In Florida on December 16, Governor Jeb Bush suspended executions and set up a commission to study lethal-injection procedures, after the grotesque death of Angel Nieves three days earlier: The three-drug cocktail supposed to sedate Nieves and kill him painlessly and quickly instead left the inmate conscious, grimacing in pain and struggling for breath. It took half an hour and a second round of injections before the
spectacle ended.

In California, US District Judge Jeremy Fogel declared that state's execution protocols rife with irregularities In particular, Fogel raised serious questions about whether "certain inmates
have been conscious" when injected with heart-stopping drugs, suffering "unconscionable" pain and anguish.