Lethal injection[/caption]Carol Forsloff---While folks debate the execution of Dennis McGuire in Ohio, a reporter learned of the arguments against this specific execution days ago and failed to report those facts, even though an article was considered. Why? Because in writing about injustice with reference to the death penalty, there were so many issues, and so many debates, the tiredness of it all became frustrating. But that judgment error was indeed an error, for although McGuire, a convicted killer and rapist of a pregnant woman, was executed, if the right people knew the facts and had protested strongly, perhaps a delay and a different decision might have been made. Still the execution was a shared responsibility.
Some folks cheered the execution that took place on January 16, arguing that the crime of killing a pregnant woman deserved the highest level of punishment, and that to die in agony was reasonable, given the horrific nature of the crime that brought the man to death row in the first place. How is this any different than people gathering around in the public square to applaud a hanging? Many of these people, however, appeared to know only what they read on Facebook or heard on the news, just as in the Old West, after a man was hanged, the community was simply reminded the punishment was deserved; and that was all. More research, which this journalist had days ago, might have been enlightening and the right questions asked about this most recent execution.
For if we believe no man is an island, and we are our brother's keeper, than every man has a responsibility when injustice occurs. And if we know the potential for that injustice, there is virtually a command to speak. It becomes an error of judgment not to do so, as the calling of the press is to enlighten where there is darkness, to inform and educate, which was Thomas Jefferson's strongest arguments for having a free press. The responsibility is for every enlightened person to speak, yet the loudest voices are often the most negative, the ones that get the most attention. Many people did not know the specifics that might have made a difference.
On January 10 the Federal Court of Appeals reviewed the case and the arguments against using the two drugs to perform the lethal injection. The new drugs, attorneys argued, would cause a very painful death, saying, "McGuire will experience the agony and terror of air hunger as he struggles to breathe for five minutes after [executioners] intravenously inject him with the execution drugs." The new lethal injection procedure use midazolam, a sedative, and hydromorphone, a painkiller. The Judge had previously expressed concern about Ohio's execution procedures and that the state had previously carried them out haphazardly without following established protocols.
The State of Ohio proceeded with the execution on January 16, despite entreaties from experts that proper protocols had not been used and the punishment in its cruel potential would exceed the limits of justice. The execution was reported to be a lengthy one, and witnesses to it said McGuire struggled and gasped much longer than it would ordinarily take to die. The Death Penalty Center reported the statements of Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham Law School, who is a lethal injection expert, as saying, “Whether there were choking sounds or it was just snorting, the execution didn’t go the way it was supposed to go.” Prior to the execution expert anesthesiologists predicted the new drug combination could cause this type of severe reaction.
Yet it is not just Ohio, where questions have been raised. On January 9, Oklahoma executed Michael Wilson by lethal injection with a different combination of drugs. Wilson was reported to say, as the drugs were injected, "I feel my whole body burning."
The dictum provided by the Eight Amendment to the Constitution against cruel and unusual punishment has been argued in the Courts for years, to determine its true meaning. Yet the following summary, appears to give enlightened people pause in the present circumstances as it is further described in the law as this: Such punishment as would amount to torture or barbarity, any cruel and degrading punishment not known to the Common Law or any fine, penalty, confinement, or treatment that is so disproportionate to the offense as to shock the moral sense of the community.
The death penalty is a shared responsibility. It is often something people vote upon. Errors, including wrongful executions, continue in the United States and are often reported. America has one of the top death penalty rates and the only developed country that executes teenagers. Everyone has a right to speak up. People who vote for the death penalty have a particularly shared responsibility when an execution occurs, and when it is wrongfully carried out that responsibility becomes even more acute.
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