It now looks almost certain that the execution of Troy Davis, despite all of the lingering doubts about his guilt, will go forward.
At 7 PM tonight, Troy will be strapped to this gurney, and leather straps will be fastened over his body and legs. His bare arms will be strapped to the boards projecting from the sides of the gurney, like he's on a cross. I wonder if there will be any Christians in the room when that happens, and if the sight will give them pause.
A 14 gauge catheter will be stuck into a vein on each arm. That is the largest commercially available needle- it's thick. It hurts. It usually takes a few tries to get it in, no matter how skilled the technician is- and the technician will probably not be all that skilled. It's often a prison guard who has received special training, and doesn't do venipuncture on a regular basis. And I can tell you, as a nurse, it is not something you master overnight.
Anyone who thinks that lethal injection is a humane way to die should consider this account of a botched execution in Ohio back in 2009:
For more than two hours, the team attempted to insert two shunts into a vein of the compliant Broom, who tried several times to assist his executioners by shifting positions, rubbing his arm and pointing out possible usable veins. [...]
At one point, Broom, 53, lay back on his bed, covered his face with his hands, and cried. Another time, while sitting up, he was seen grimacing as the execution team appeared to seek a vein around his ankles.
Several times, Broom rolled onto his left side, pointed at veins, straightened tubes or massaged his own arms to help prison staff keep a vein open. He was clearly frustrated as he leaned back on the gurney, covering his face with his hands and visibly crying. His stomach heaved upward and his feet twitched. There is no audio from the holding cell, so reporters could only watch his movements. When the staff tried to put IVs in his legs, Broom looked up toward the camera above, appearing to grimace, at least four times, from pain.
As Broom’s anxiety grew, he repeatedly wiped his sweaty forehead with toilet paper.
Once they get the catheters in his arms, his veins will be flushed with Heparin sodium to prevent clots from forming inside the catheter. A bag of saline solution will be attached to the ends of the catheter, and the curtains surrounding the execution chamber will be drawn. He will get a chance to make his last statement. They will check to see if there is any last minute reprieves. And then, they will start the drugs.
The drug they will use to kill Troy Davis is Phenobarbitol. It is the same drug used to put down family pets and livestock. There have been numerous occasions since it first started being administered in December 2010, where it has not worked the way it should. There are several eyewitness accounts of the condemned writhing, gasping for air and grimacing in pain for up to several minutes after it's administration. One of those accounts happened to be in Georgia, this past July.
Phenobarbitol is not the traditional drug used in executions- that would be Sodium Theopintol. But it is more or less the only drug we are able to acquire now because the manufacturers of Sodium Theopintol are located in other countries-humane countries, that do not have capital punishment- and they no longer wish to be accessories to our state-sanctioned murder.
And yes, I do consider this murder. A slow torture, followed by a cold, calculated premeditated murder. Torture because how else can you describe being told you are mere hours from death, on multiple occasions, only to be saved at the last minute, and then condemned once again? This is the 4th time Troy has faced execution in 4 years. You can anesthetize this all you want, you can make it look like a humane medical procedure, you can couch it in florid legal terms, you can put a nice pretty bow on it and polish it till it shines- it's still murder. And it's barbaric. And it's being done in our name.
Troy Davis may be dead within hours. I don't know how to deal with that quite yet. I've been following his case and fighting for him since 2007. I don't normally pray, but I am going to tonight. I am praying for Troy's sister, an amazing woman who has been fighting for her brother for the past 20 years. She wrote a heartbreaking article in the Huffington Post last week about her young son, and her struggle to help him understand what's happening to his uncle. I pray that she is able to find the words, because I don't know how you explain this to a child without shattering every shred of trust they have in the world and the very people that are supposed to protect them. I pray for his mother- as a mother myself, I cannot even imagine what she is going through, but it's enough to make me physically ill. I pray that the family of the victim is able to find peace one day- but I know this isn't going to do it. I pray for Troy, that he gets a miracle. But if not, I pray this goes quickly and with as little pain as possible, and that he dies knowing how much of an impact he has made on so many people.
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