Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty sent this to my email.
Barbarous Execution Shames Ohio
For immediate release
Ohio, May 2, 2006: Today's execution of Joseph Lewis Clark, age 57,
took nearly 90 minutes, making it one of the longest lethal injection
executions in U.S history. The execution team struggled for 25
minutes to insert an intravenous line for the lethal injection, only
to have Mr. Clark complain, "It's not working. It's not working" when
the lethal chemicals began flowing. Prison officials then drew
curtains and attempted to re-establish the intravenous line, while
Mr. Clark could be heard "moaning and groaning" by witnesses. A new
IV was established, the curtains were re-opened, and the drug
infusion began again. Mr. Clark raised his head several times and
breathed deeply before becoming still.
In response to this grisly execution, Jonathan I. Groner MD, national
expert on lethal injection, commented: "The opaque curtain pulled
across the execution chamber could not hide the fact that this man
was tortured to death. Furthermore, the three drug injection used to
extinguish his life is considered so inhumane that veterinarians are
forbidden from using it in a similar fashion to euthanize animals.
"Today's execution demonstrates the terrible dilemma of lethal
injection as medical charade. On the one hand, this 'medicalized'
killing procedure, which uses IV tubing, anesthetic drugs, and other
medical equipment, becomes torture in the hands of unqualified
individuals. On the other hand, the involvement of medical
professionals such as physicians and nurses in executions violates
the fundamental ethics of these professions."
"No human, regardless of his or her crime, should be subjected to the
torture that Mr. Clark faced. The barbarity of this execution is
making news headlines around the world. I urge Ohio's political
leaders to call for a moratorium on lethal injection immediately."
Here it is from CNN:
Killer executed the hard way
Condemned man sits up and tells executioners, 'It's not working'
Tuesday, May 2, 2006; Posted: 3:07 p.m. EDT (19:07 GMT)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) -- A double murderer was put to death in
Ohio Tuesday but not until after one of his veins collapsed, causing
the condemned man to sit up and tell his executioners, "It's not
working," officials said.
The Ohio Department of Corrections said Joseph Clark, 57, was
pronounced dead at 11:26 a.m. ET following an injection of lethal
chemicals at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville.
Spokeswoman Andrea Dean said the execution was delayed about 90
minutes because technicians had trouble initially finding a site in
Clark's arm for the intravenous line carrying the chemicals.
Then shortly after the poisons were supposed to have been pumping
into his body, she said, he sat up saying, "It's not working. It's
not working."
Officials determined that a vein had collapsed. Curtains were closed
to block witnesses' view until technicians found a vein in his other
arm. They were then parted to reveal him dying, witnesses said.
Ohio has used lethal injection repeatedly without similar problems,
but this method of execution, used in all but one of the 38 states
that impose capital punishment, is under legal attack.
The U.S. Supreme Court has a challenge before it from Florida
claiming that it causes undue pain, while the matter is also before a
court in California.
The method involves three separate drugs: the first renders the
victim unconscious, the second stops all muscle movement except the
heart and the third stops the heart, causing death.
Clark was given a meal of his request Monday, consisting of shrimp,
steak, chicken wings, fries, rolls with butter, cherry pie and a soft drink.
Just before the execution process started the first time Clark made a
final statement apologizing to his victims' families and saying
"Today my life is being taken because of drugs. If you live by the
sword you die by the sword."
On January 13, 1984, Clark shot Marine reservist and father of two
David Manning and stole $65 from the gas station where Manning was working.
The murder came during an eight-day crime spree in which Clark also
murdered another man, student Donald Harris, and wounded a third man
during an attempted robbery.
Harris was filling in for a friend at a convenience store when Clark
entered and demanded the contents of the store's safe. Harris said he
did not know the safe's combination, and was shot in the back of the head.
Clark later attempted to rob a man at an automated teller machine,
the two struggled, and the victim was wounded twice. A witness saw
the attack and noted the license plate number on Clark's car.
After he was arrested, Clark tried to hang himself in his jail cell,
and confessed to the murders while recovering in a hospital. He was
sentenced to death for Manning's murder.
Clark said he robbed to support a drug habit.
"Neither the parole board nor I are persuaded by Mr. Clark's attempt
to explain away Mr. Manning's murder," Gov. Robert Taft said in
refusing clemency last week.
Taft said Clark's "well established prior criminal conduct, both as a
juvenile and as an adult, signifies a propensity for violent behavior."
Clark was the 21st person to be executed in Ohio since the state
resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1999, and the 1,021st
inmate executed in the United States since capital punishment resumed in 1976.