Alito Splits With Conservatives on Inmate
WASHINGTON - New Supreme Court Justice
Samuel Alito split with the court's conservatives Wednesday night, refusing to let Missouri execute a death-row inmate contesting lethal injection.
Alito, handling his first case, sided with inmate Michael Taylor, who had won a stay from an appeals court earlier in the evening. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices
Antonin Scalia and
Clarence Thomas supported lifting the stay, but Alito joined the remaining five members in turning down Missouri's last-minute request to allow a midnight execution.
I have to say I was astounded by this. Alito has a record of siding with the government. His history does not tend to lead one to believe he would be skeptical of the death penalty.
But aside from this, there is actually more to this story:
Lethal injection is on its way out.
Some history:
The history of lethal injection in America is actually quite odd. I have yet to find a definative history of it's development. I'm sure it's out there, but I can't find it.
1888 is the first year that anyone seems to have mentioned its possible use as a means for execution. This was in New York. The state opted to go with electrocution instead. It wasn't until the 1970s that lethal injection was revived as a means for execution. In 1977 Oklahoma added it as a means of execution. It wasn't used until 1982.
Now, of the 38 states that have the death penalty on the books, only one state, Nebraska, has not passed a law allowing lethal injection as a means of execution. Note: I'm the director of Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty. We have been successful in fighting the lethal injection bill here for several years now.
There have been several challenges to lethal injection over the years. Alito's first decision is not the first. It isn't the only one in the courts right now. Earlier this week the Supreme court allowed another appeal to continue.
But, I'll get to my point:
Lethal injection is torture.
You have to understand a little bit about how lethal injection works to understand how this happens.
This wikipedia entry goes into detail
I will try and describe it succinctly.
There are three drugs used in lethal injection. They are given in order.
- A pain killer
- A paralytic
- A heart-stopper
Current
research shows that there is a problem with this. It generally has to do with the fact that those who carry out the execution are not train anesthesiologist. In particular it is a problem with the first two drugs.
The pain killer used usually has a short "half-life." In other words, it doesn't last very long. What happens then, is that the paralytic works well, but when the heart-stopper is injected the condemned is paralyzed but can feel the effects of the heart-stopper. They are paralyzed but cannot let anyone know that they are feeling the excruciating pain of the final chemical.
There are various reasons why this might happen. The main one is that the people who carry out the sentence are not trained to do the job and anyone (anesthesiologist) who is trained to do the job cannot ethically do the job.
No matter what you might think of the death penalty in theory, in practice it has never lived up to its hype.
All previous methods have been ruled cruel and unusual. Lethal injection will be the same.
phat