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The fact you would bring that up would be comical if it wasn't so blasé coming from you.
Moderators: Alyrium Denryle, Edi, K. A. Pital
If the death penalty is such a good system for discouraging crime, why do Americans still commit crimes for which they could be sentenced to death? Why are US crime rates still high if America serves its criminals with frequent and deadly JUSTICE?
Ordering contract killings of witnesses in criminal cases is a pretty big fucking deal, to paraphrase Obama.
As I've gotten older, I've come to the conclusion that the majority of violent crime is done by individuals so many standard deviations away from the norms -- that is they're too stupid to actually do cause/effect beyond their immediate circumstances -- as in they can't think ahead more than a day or two, or run down in their heads: "If I do this, X is likely to result, which will cause Y to happen." The only way to actually deter people that stupid is for the sentences to be carried out almost immediately -- but that's impossible given current standards for trials by the late 20th century.Jub wrote:If the death penalty is such a good system for discouraging crime, why do Americans still commit crimes for which they could be sentenced to death?
Holy double post, Formless.
I actually do agree with it -- tighten up the legal requirements to seek a capital case, but naturally, that wasn't enough for the crusaders.In 2009, legislation limited the cases in which the court or jury could impose a death sentence to those in which the state presents the following types of evidence:
1. biological or DNA evidence that links the defendant to the murder;
2. a videotaped, voluntary interrogation and confession of the defendant to the murder; or
3. a video recording that conclusively links the defendant to the murder.
The 2009 act also specifically prohibited the death penalty if the state relies solely on eyewitness evidence.
For death penalty cases in which the sentence had not been imposed, and the state did not meet the act's criteria, the act removed the death penalty as a sentencing option. The act also expressed the intent that any savings from reducing the number of death penalty cases be used to expand victim services for survivors of homicide.
The act took effect October 1, 2009
Like I give a shit. The sheer number of people falsely convicted, let alone those proven post-mortem to be innocent of a crime they got the death penalty for, must make me a partisan then.MKSheppard wrote: ↑2022-01-15 09:34pm The reason why I keep bringing these last four death row cases in MD up, is that the legislation signed by O'Malley on 2 May 2013 that abolished the death penalty in Maryland "grandfathered" in everyone who was already on death row -- i.e. they would still be put to death, but no new death sentences would be handed out.
But basically, O'Malley waited until the very last moment in his second term, until 31 December 2014 to commute their sentences; because Larry Hogan (R) was going to become Governor on 21 January 2015; and the last time Maryland had a Republican Governor in Bob Ehrlich, executions resumed.
Basically, blatant pure partisan politics.
Yes. Some of the people who are/were on death row are horrible people.MKSheppard wrote: ↑2022-01-15 01:01pm I thought witness killings were an affront to our democracy, etc etc blah blah.
I don't think the ability for governors/presidents to commute sentences for no reason beyond "I felt like it" or "it's convenient for me" has any place in a justice system. But, as long as the US keeps them, you will keep seeing pardon/commute powers being used this way or worse.MKSheppard wrote: ↑2022-01-15 09:34pm But basically, O'Malley waited until the very last moment in his second term, until 31 December 2014 to commute their sentences; because Larry Hogan (R) was going to become Governor on 21 January 2015; and the last time Maryland had a Republican Governor in Bob Ehrlich, executions resumed.
He didn't, and I don't think that explains it at all, because lethal injection exists side by side with the electric chair and I don't know off the top of my head when the last hanging in the US was but that was also on the table not so long ago. Ditto for just shooting them. Clearly there are much more dramatic and interesting to watch (again if you're into that kind of thing) methods of execution that society considers 'civilized,' whatever exactly that means here.
The theater is that somebody dies in public by the state's hand, not the method by which it's accomplished. Less spectacular methods have been pushed for because those opposed or on the fence about executions can hold feel good that at least the state is using a, debatably, humane method and those in favor still get a body at the end of the process. It's like any public process in that it's a compromise that nobody likes but a majority can live with.Ralin wrote: ↑2022-01-17 04:03amHe didn't, and I don't think that explains it at all, because lethal injection exists side by side with the electric chair and I don't know off the top of my head when the last hanging in the US was but that was also on the table not so long ago. Ditto for just shooting them. Clearly there are much more dramatic and interesting to watch (again if you're into that kind of thing) methods of execution that society considers 'civilized,' whatever exactly that means here.
Like, I don't know how familiar you are with the subject, but while horrible for the person on the receiving end lethal injection is literally designed to be as sanitized and peaceful-seeming as possible for observers. Really doesn't seem to jibe with the idea of the execution as a spectacle. Especially given that states still try to keep using it when they run into issues with suppliers instead of switching to other options that are still on the books and practiced within living memory.
Yup. And even Lethal Injection often involves a lot of agony to the point the state has tried to cover it up.Jub wrote: ↑2022-01-17 01:37pmThe theater is that somebody dies in public by the state's hand, not the method by which it's accomplished. Less spectacular methods have been pushed for because those opposed or on the fence about executions can hold feel good that at least the state is using a, debatably, humane method and those in favor still get a body at the end of the process. It's like any public process in that it's a compromise that nobody likes but a majority can live with.Ralin wrote: ↑2022-01-17 04:03amHe didn't, and I don't think that explains it at all, because lethal injection exists side by side with the electric chair and I don't know off the top of my head when the last hanging in the US was but that was also on the table not so long ago. Ditto for just shooting them. Clearly there are much more dramatic and interesting to watch (again if you're into that kind of thing) methods of execution that society considers 'civilized,' whatever exactly that means here.
Like, I don't know how familiar you are with the subject, but while horrible for the person on the receiving end lethal injection is literally designed to be as sanitized and peaceful-seeming as possible for observers. Really doesn't seem to jibe with the idea of the execution as a spectacle. Especially given that states still try to keep using it when they run into issues with suppliers instead of switching to other options that are still on the books and practiced within living memory.
Alabama is preparing to use a new, untried execution method called nitrogen hypoxia on a death row prisoner next week.
The US state is planning to administer the gas, which is supposed to cause death by replacing oxygen with nitrogen, in the execution of killer Alan Eugene Miller.
It has been authorised by Alabama and two other states for executions but has never been used by a state.
James Houts, a deputy state attorney general in Alabama, told US District Judge Austin Huffaker Jr that it is “very likely” the method could be available for the execution of Miller, currently set for September 22, if the judge blocks the use of lethal injection.
The disclosure about the possibility of using the new method came during a court hearing on Miller’s request for a preliminary injunction to block his execution by lethal injection.
Miller, a delivery truck driver, was convicted in the 1999 workplace shootings that killed Lee Holdbrooks, Scott Yancy and Terry Jarvis.
Prosecutors said Miller killed Holdbrooks and Yancy at one business and then drove to another location to shoot Jarvis. Each man was shot multiple times.
While lethal injection is Alabama's primary execution method, the state in 2018 approved an untried method, nitrogen hypoxia, as an alternative amid mounting questions over lethal injection.
The nitrogen could either be supplied by using a medical-grade oxygen tent around the head or a facemask similar to those used by firefighters.
Offenders would lose consciousness about 15 seconds after the switch was made from oxygen to nitrogen.
Lawmakers theorised that death by nitrogen hypoxia could be a simpler and more humane execution method, but critics have likened the untested method to human experimentation.
Wearing a maroon shirt and with his hands shackled in front of him, Miller testified that he returned a state form selecting nitrogen on the same day it was distributed to inmates by a prison worker.
Miller described how he disliked needles because of painful attempts at drawing blood. He said nitrogen gas sounded like the nitrous oxide gas used at dentist offices, and that seemed better than lethal injection.
“I did not want to be stabbed with a needle,” Miller said.
Basically they tried to kill him by lethal injection anyway because they fucked up and lost the paperwork but couldn't access his veins so couldn't do it. The irony of worrying about "irreparable injury" to a death row inmate notwithstanding.
A federal judge has granted an order prohibiting Alabama from executing a death row inmate by lethal injection this week after he asserted he chose to die by nitrogen hypoxia – an untested and unproven execution method Alabama officials say they’re not ready to use.
Without the injunction, the inmate, Alan Eugene Miller, would “likely suffer irreparable injury,” US District Judge Austin Huffaker Jr. wrote in his order, “because he will be deprived of the ability to die by the method he chose and instead will be forced to die by a method he sought to avoid and which he asserts will be painful.”
As a result, the state cannot execute Miller “by any method other than nitrogen hypoxia until further order from the court.”
The case has put a spotlight on nitrogen hypoxia, which experts and critics say has yet to be proven humane or effective and could never be ethically tested, despite proponents’ claims it could be simpler, easier and safer than lethal injection. Inmates like Miller, however, are making an “uninformed choice,” said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, because the method has never been used.
The judge’s order Monday comes after Miller – sentenced to death for a 1999 triple killing – sued the commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, the state attorney general and his warden, alleging corrections officials were moving to execute him by lethal injection after losing paperwork in which he claimed to have chosen to die by breathing nitrogen gas.
The failure to honor his request, Miller’s complaint said, violated his constitutional rights.
State officials suggested Miller made no such choice and said they had no record of his preference, court filings show.
The case attracted widespread attention after an attorney for the Corrections Department last week said it was “very likely” the state could carry out Miller’s execution by nitrogen hypoxia, which in theory involves replacing the critical oxygen in the air with nitrogen until the inmate is breathing 100% nitrogen.
The declaration was notable – albeit “vague and imprecise,” per the judge – coming more than four years after Alabama authorized the method as an alternative to lethal injection, which remains the primary execution method for the US federal government and the 27 states that still have capital punishment.
Only two other states – Oklahoma and Mississippi – have approved use of nitrogen hypoxia to carry out death sentences, but none has ever actually used it.
Days after Alabama made the claim, though, its corrections chief walked it back. The state “cannot carry out an execution by nitrogen hypoxia,” Commissioner John Hamm wrote in a court filing, but remained “ready to carry out Plaintiff’s sentence by lethal injection on September 22, 2022.”
That led to the judge’s order Monday, which appears to force the state to iron out its nitrogen hypoxia execution protocol before moving forward with Miller’s execution. It’s unclear when that might be ready.
“Suffice it to say,” the judge wrote, “the readiness of the protocol and of the (Corrections Department) to conduct executions by nitrogen hypoxia has been a moving target.”
The department had “completed many of the preparations necessary for conducting executions by nitrogen hypoxia,” but its protocol was “not yet complete,” it told CNN last week in a statement. “Once the nitrogen hypoxia protocol is complete, (department) personnel will need sufficient time to be thoroughly trained before an execution can be conducted using this method.”
The CNN version didn't say, but the Independent one does:madd0c0t0r2 wrote: ↑2022-09-27 07:56am Where's the bit where they tried and couldn't find his veins?
My reading of the above is, realising they couldn't do anything becuase they didn't have a protocol for Nitrogen hypoxia, they 'lost' his paperwork requesting it and moved to try for the lethal injection route, only to get knocked back by the Judge and told to get their shit together.
The execution by lethal injection of Alan Eugene Miller by the state of Alabama has been halted after the inmate’s veins couldn’t be accessed within protocol time restrictions.
“Due to the time constraints resulting in the lateness of the court proceedings, the execution was called off once it was determined the condemned’s veins could not be accessed in accordance with our protocol before the expiration of the death warrant,” John Hamm, the Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, told the press, according to al.com.
Miller was sentenced to death after a shooting in Shelby County on 5 August 1999 that lead to the deaths of three men. His execution was halted at about 11.30pm on Thursday night. The state’s death warrant expired at midnight.
The 57-year-old was sent back to his cell on death row.
Kenneth Eugene Smith had argued it was a 'cruel' and 'unusual' punishment, one that had never before been used on a human being.
After making seizure like movements for a number of minutes, Smith became the first person to be put to death using pure nitrogen gas.
A man who was paid $1,000 (£788) to kill an Alabama woman more than 30 years ago was executed with pure nitrogen gas - the first execution of its kind in the world.
Convicted murderer Kenneth Smith, 58, appeared to convulse and shake after breathing in the gas.
Smith had lost two final appeals to prevent the execution. On Thursday, the US Supreme Court denied a last-minute appeal from Smith's attorneys who argued it was an unusual and cruel punishment.
Alabama had tried and failed to execute Smith in 2022 by using lethal injection.
Smith inhaled pure nitrogen gas through a face mask causing oxygen deprivation. He appeared conscious for several minutes into the procedure.
For at least two minutes, Smith made seizure-like movements on the gurney that sometimes had him pulling against the restraints.
That was followed by several minutes of laboured breathing. He was pronounced dead after 22 minutes.
Inside the chamber with him was his spiritual adviser, Revered Jeff Hood who earlier on Thursday said Smith ate a final meal of T-bone steak, hash browns, toast, and eggs slathered in A1 steak sauce.
“He’s terrified at the torture that could come. But he’s also at peace. One of the things he told me is he is finally getting out,” he added.
The method of execution has been described by the Alabama attorney general's office as the "most painless and humane method of execution known to man", but the United Nations (UN) has disputed this, saying nitrogen hypoxia could "amount to torture" and break international human rights laws.
The American Veterinary Medical Association in 2020 euthanasia guidelines wrote nitrogen hypoxia is not an acceptable euthanasia method for most mammals because the anoxic environment is "distressing".
On Wednesday, both the US Supreme Court and 11th Circuit Court of Appeals said they would not block the execution despite Smiths' pleas for it to intervene.
"What effect the condemned person will feel from the nitrogen gas itself, no one knows," Dr. Jeffrey Keller, president of the American College of Correctional Physicians said.
Alabama, along with Mississippi and Oklahoma, is the only US states to have authorised the use of nitrogen hypoxia.
The death penalty is a legal punishment that can be given out in 27 of the US states, and 24 people died as a result of capital punishment in 2023, as recorded by the Death Penalty Information Centre.
What was Smith convicted of?
Smith was one of two men convicted for murdering a woman in 1988.
The incident was a "murder-for-hire", with Smith and another man, John Forrest Parker, each receiving $1,000 (£786) to kill Elizabeth Sennett on behalf of her husband.
Her husband killed himself when he became a suspect. John Forrest Parker, the other man convicted, was executed in 2010.
The victim's son, Charles Sennett Jr, said in an interview with WAAY-TV that Smith "has to pay for what he's done".
He and other family members plan to witness the execution.
"And some of these people out there say, 'Well, he doesn't need to suffer like that'. Well, he didn't ask Mama how to suffer?" Mr Sennett Jr said.
"They just did it. They stabbed her - multiple times."
How did the execution work?
The method is known as Nitrogen Hypoxia.
Brain cells begin to die after one minute without oxygen, and serious brain damage is "likely" after three minutes, according to University of Michigan research.
After 15 minutes without oxygen brain recovery is "virtually impossible".
Officials strapped Smith into a gurney and then placed a facepiece, similar to those typically used to supply oxygen, onto his face.
A warden read a death warrant and asked Smith if he has any last words, before activating the "nitrogen hypoxia system" from another room.
The nitrogen gas was expected to be administered for at least 15 minutes or “five minutes following a flatline indication on the EKG, whichever is longer,” according to the state protocol.
Smith's attorneys had said the mask in question was not air tight and so oxygen could seep through, making the execution process longer and possibly leaving him in a vegetative state rather than killing him.
A doctor testified on behalf of Smith that the low-oxygen environment could cause nausea, leaving him to choke to death on his own vomit.