The oh-so-vocal Save Tookie crowd (Jesse Jackson, Jamie Fox, Snoop Dog, et al) has been strangely silent lately. First they didn't care about the execution of white boy Clarence Ray Allen last month, and they've been silent thus far over Michael Morales. Of course they wouldn't really have needed to do anything since the courts have gone apeshit on this one. Or maybe because these last two aren't black. Just throwin' that our there...
SAN QUENTIN, California (Reuters) - California officials postponed indefinitely the execution of convicted killer Michael Morales on Tuesday after notifying a federal court they could not comply with a court order that medical professionals assist in carrying out his death sentence.
San Quentin State Prison spokesman Lt. Vernell Crittendon said prison officials, who had delayed the execution earlier in the day, could not find a licensed medical professional willing to inject a lethal drug into Morales. |
Apparently Dr. Kevorkian was unavailable, and no other doctors were willing to kill someone. Go figure. That's kinda why we had the mechanized, 3 drug cocktail to begin with... less personal guilt by whoever pushed the button. But apparently some think that's somehow cruel and unusual. First they wanted the anesthesiologists to monitor and actively participate in the execution if necessary which they refused, then they decided to go looking for someone to just get it over with and overdose him on sedatives. Are there any heroin junkies in the crowd tonight?
"The warden has chosen to stand down," Crittendon told reporters, adding that he expects a court hearing on May 2 or May 3 to review the mechanics of California's lethal injection method of execution. |
And why would we want to do that?
Catterson said Lockyer's office informed the court it could not comply with a judge's order last week requiring the state to take new precautions to assure a lethal injection did not cause undue suffering to Morales.
Defense attorneys claimed last week that lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment, barred by the Constitution.
This prompted U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel to order prison officials to either alter the composition of the lethal chemicals used in the execution or make medical experts available to ensure unnecessary pain was not inflicted. |
OK people, a little common sense here. 3 drugs are used. First a powerful sedative, second a paralytic, lastly one that induces a heart attack. So knock him out so he doesn't feel anything, paralyze him so he doesn't spasm and hurt himself, then basically stop his heart. One of their arguments is what if the first drugs doens't sedate him? Then give him another shot. Or what if the paralytic keeps him from signaling if he's in pain if sedative doesn't work? Then let's not give him the paralytic, so that maybe he twitches hard enough to fall right off the table. C'mon people use your heads. This isn't brain surgery. Tie him down and inject him otherwise let's just get back to hanging people and the electric chair. |
