Illinois governor abolishes death penalty: joins the club

Illinois governor abolishes death penalty

Sates now without the death penalty, STATES WITHOUT THE DEATH PENALTY (YEAR ABOLISHED IN PARENTHESES)

Alaska (1957)
Hawaii (1948)
Illinois (2010)
Iowa (1965)
Maine (1887)
Massachusetts (1984)
Michigan (1846)
Minnesota (1911)
New Jersey (2007)
New Mexico* (2009)
New York (2007)#
North Dakota (1973)
Rhode Island (1984)**
Vermont (1964)

West Virginia (1965)
Wisconsin (1853)

ALSO
- Dist. of Columbia (1981)

Remember this? Gardner chooses death by firing squad Execution by firing squad? That is not wise especially in this environment. Death by firing squad is a bit much in today's environment. It is also too much like the wild wild west. This is 2010! This is Utah the Mormon State. I know in Utah death by firing squad is not an option as it was outlawed. However anyone that requested it prior to the law change in 2004 can still have their execution by firing squad. That is the case with Ronnie Lee Gardner. I do not like this period!

I remember almost 5 years ago when then Gov. Jeb Bush suspended executions in Florida after a medical examiner said that prison officials botched the insertion of the needles when a convicted killer was put to death earlier this week. Separately, a federal judge in California imposed a moratorium on executions in the nation's most populous state, declaring that the state's method of lethal injection runs the risk of violating the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

I have always had my doubts about the Death Penalty unless it is an open and shut case but I just don't know any more in light of the latest fiasco's. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said the case in question with him raised the question of whether a three-drug cocktail administered by the San Quentin State Prison is so painful that it "offends" the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The judge answered in the affirmative and in light of what I am reading I am afraid he is right and I for one feel terrible.

He said the case raised the question of whether a three-drug cocktail administered by the San Quentin State Prison is so painful that it "offends" the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. At that time Fogel found substantial evidence that the last six men executed at San Quentin might have been conscious and still breathing when lethal drugs were administered. that is just horrible to me. I can understand an eye for an eye but torture is just inhumane to me especially sanctioned as I know many of you feel the same
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In response He ordered anesthesiologists to be on hand, or demanded that a licensed medical professional inject a large, fatal dose of a sedative instead of the additional paralyzing agent and heart-stopping drugs that are normally used. But no medical professional was willing to participate. man I can't really say I blame them. This just sounds too inhumane. It sounds crass but we have to find a better way to do this and only when "dead" sure!

In Florida, medical examiner Dr. William Hamilton said the execution of Angel Nieves Diaz took 34 minutes -- twice as long as usual -- and required a rare second dose of lethal chemicals because the needles were inserted clear through his veins and into the flesh in his arms. The chemicals are supposed to go into the veins.

Later after the autopsy Dr. Hamilton refused to say whether or not he suffered and deferred answers about pain and suffering. However, Missing a vein when administering the injections would cause "both psychological and physical discomfort -- probably pretty severe," said Dr. J. Kent Garman.

Anyway, I was relieved myself when I heard 2 states were putting an end to lethal injections for now, but then I hear this. A federal judge's ruling that California's lethal injection method is unconstitutionally cruel will have little impact on most of the state's death row inmates, legal experts said Saturday.

Four times as many condemned prisoners in California have died of natural causes, suicide or murder after their cases meandered through the appeals courts for decades. Texas, by contrast, has carried out 380 executions in roughly the same period. The leading cause of death on death row right now is old age," said Gerald Uelmen, a professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law. How does that make you feel? are you supposed to feel better?

Then I got to wondering how many States have the death penalty and what is their methods? In the 38 states and federal government that currently have death penalty statutes, five different methods of execution are prescribed: Lethal Injection, Electrocution, Lethal Gas, Firing Squad, and Hanging.

The vast majority of jurisdictions provide for execution by lethal injection. 20 jurisdictions provide for alternative methods of execution, contingent upon the choice of the inmate, the date of the execution or sentence, or the possibility of the method being held unconstitutional. Only one state does not have lethal injection as a primary or optional method of execution. Nebraska is the only state that provides for electrocution as the sole method of execution. No states provide for Lethal Gas, Hanging, or Firing Squad as the sole method of execution. Please look at the link for the accepted method of execution by State.

I am beginning to get a real bad feeling about this and wonder if there is a humane way of killing or if there is one method that is fail safe why isn't it made to be universal. Something is not right about this and something has to be done. Please give me your 2 cents!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com