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  • Inmate’s death called ‘horrific’

    Inmate’s death called ‘horrific’ under new, 2-drug execution
    January 17, 2014

    LUCASVILLE, Ohio — It wasn’t the terrifying, brutal death he inflicted on his 22-year-old victim in 1989, but Dennis McGuire did not go quietly yesterday. McGuire struggled, made guttural noises, gasped for air and choked for about 10 minutes before succumbing to a new, two-drug execution method at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville. There was no clear indication that the drug combination — never before used in a U.S. execution — triggered McGuire’s death struggles. But Allen Bohnert, one of McGuire’s federal public defenders, called the execution a “failed, agonizing experiment by the state of Ohio.” “The people of the state of Ohio should be appalled by what was done in their name,” Bohnert told reporters.

    McGuire died from an injection of midazolam, a sedative, and hydromorphone, a morphine derivative. The combination was included in the state’s execution policy as far back as 2009 but only as a backup involving intramuscular injection. The state switched to the two drugs for intravenous injection for McGuire’s execution because pentobarbital, the single drug used before, is no longer available as manufacturers will not sell it for use in executions. The chemicals began flowing about 10:29 a.m., and for a while, McGuire was quiet, closing his eyes and turning his face up and away from his family. However, about 10:34 a.m., he began struggling. His body strained against the restraints around his body, and he repeatedly gasped for air, making snorting and choking sounds for about 10 minutes. His chest and stomach heaved; his left hand, which he had used minutes earlier to wave goodbye to his family, clenched in a fist. McGuire eventually issued two final, silent gasps and became still. He was pronounced dead at 10:53 a.m.
    Source

    McGuire was convicted of the attempted rape and murder of 22 year old Joy Stewart in 1989. She was pregnant at the time and the fetus also perished. Her husband Kenneth committed suicide less than a year after her murder.

    Gregory Lott is scheduled to be executed in the same manner on March 19. This thread is not intended to debate capital punishment. That complex subject can be discussed in another thread. Rather, what do you think of the duration (almost 30 minutes) of this execution? The prison warden said that a review will be conducted as per protocol, but nothing technically went wrong. Although manufacturers no longer allow pentobarbital for human executions, it is still the veterinarian drug of choice for animal euthanasia and is fairly quick and painless. Does this make any sense? I believe the US Supreme Court has ruled that executions must not be cruel and unusual affairs. In other words... as brief as possible and humane.

    Thoughts?
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  • #2
    I am not going to lose any sleep that he suffered.

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    • #3
      I think it is silly to spend all kinds of money on exotic means of executing a criminal. If the state decides that a convict needs to die, just have them shot and be done with it. It is fast, inexpensive, and in my opinion more humane since you have the option to shoot them again if they don't die immediately.

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      • #4
        I wondered why they banned hanging or decapitation from capital punishment. It is the easiest and most swiftest way to kill somebody. Or a proper placed bullet to the head would do the trick. I don't believe in death by drugs.

        Also, why did they stop public viewing of the executions? They should make it public again. If you make it private because you think it would turn the public against execution, then it is not a good idea in the first place. The reason why we have execution is for deterence.

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        • #5
          Thoughts? He got off easy.

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          • #6
            I can understand doing away with hanging and decapitation since the family of the deceased will likely want to have an open casket funeral. Even if someone was a true menace to society, their family will probably still love them and want to have a proper funeral. Death by firing squad allows this, since they generally aim for the heart.

            As far as public executions being an effective deterrent, I have my doubts. I think deterring people from committing crime has more to do with the likelihood of being apprehended than of the harshness of the punishment. It doesn't matter how severe the penalty may be if you don’t think you will be caught in the first place.

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            • #7
              In the NPR report, they said that he was snoring. This guy was allowed to die in his sleep, something that most of us can only wish for.

              You are asking for our thoughts? My thought is that it is in these cases that I wish I had a belief in afterlife, where he would truly suffer for what he has done. Unfortunately, his suffering has ended
              "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" ~ Epicurus

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              • #8
                Originally posted by antimony View Post
                In the NPR report, they said that he was snoring. This guy was allowed to die in his sleep, something that most of us can only wish for.
                Snoring? Most reports say snorting (breathing forcefully through the nostrils).
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                • #9
                  Less painful then the rape and murder of a pregnant newly wed he killed.

                  Good ridance to a POS that destroyed a family.
                  Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Dreadnought View Post
                    Less painful then the rape and murder of a pregnant newly wed he killed.
                    Agreed. To quote our SWO Captain: "Consume excrement and assume room temperature"
                    “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Dreadnought View Post
                      Less painful then the rape and murder of a pregnant newly wed he killed.

                      Good ridance to a POS that destroyed a family.
                      Especially since he slit her throat which is no pleasant way of dying drowning in one's blood.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Minskaya View Post
                        Snoring? Most reports say snorting (breathing forcefully through the nostrils).
                        Maybe, I heard it on radio

                        I still say he got off easy
                        "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" ~ Epicurus

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                        • #13
                          I can smell the lawsuits already. I'll bet a judge puts the next scheduled execution in Ohio (March 19) on hold.
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                          • #14
                            In trying to answer the question posted by the OP, I think 30 minutes should be considered reasonably quick and an injection is not unusual.

                            Though he suffered more than some other means of execution, he suffered less than he should have.

                            I do agree that we make executions needlessly expensive and complex affairs. Stones seem to work pretty well and can be used again, same with rope and the guillotine. But I see no problem with this method.
                            "Bother", said Poo, chambering another round.

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                            • #15
                              Of the three countries in which I hold citizenship (Belarus/Ukraine/Israel), only Belarus has capital punishment. The condemned is forced to kneel and is then shot in the back of head.
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