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GUEST: Lance Lindsey, Executive Director of Death Penalty Focus

One week ago today, Florida death row inmate, Angel Diaz, was executed by lethal injection. It took him more than half an hour to die. The botched execution required a second dose of chemicals to be administered after the first injection punctured Diaz’s veins before entering soft tissue. Two days later, Florida Governor Jeb Bush suspended all executions in the state pending the returns and recommendations of a commission appointed to review the constitutionality of the lethal injection procedure. Since 2000, Florida has executed death row inmates by lethal injection after the use of the electric chair was suspended following an instance of flames shooting out of an inmate’s head during his execution. Hours after Governor Bush’s decision to suspend executions, a federal judge in California ruled that this state’s lethal injection system is unconstitutional as it violates the 8th amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. However, U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel’s verdict was decidedly mixed as he noted that California’s death penalty was “broken, but…can be fixed.” In response, California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger has pledged to correct the problems in the state’s execution procedures cited in Judge Fogel’s ruling.

For more information, visit www.deathpenalty.org.

ADDENDUM: The state of Maryland has also suspended executions. See “Highest Court in Maryland Suspends Executions” at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/20/us/20death.html