Ohio man tells executioners “It’s not working” – A double murderer was put to death in Ohio on Tuesday but not until after one of his veins had collapsed, causing the condemned man to sit up and tell his executioners, “It’s not working,” officials said. … 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.
An interesting article: MACHINES OF DEATH – With more than 3000 prisoners currently awaiting execution, death row technology makes the taking of a life humane and painless. Or does it?
The current forms of execution includes:
- Hanging – The problem with hanging is that the drop length, hence the rope length, is critical. The desired result requires 1260 ft.-lb. of force to snap the neck. If the drop is too short, the victim strangles–a horrific episode that can last up to 15 minutes. Too long a drop risks decapitation–an equally unappetizing event. To calculate the correct drop length (in feet), the equation is 1260 divided by the victim’s weight.
- Electric Chair
- Firing Squad – Five shooters behind the partition are armed with standard Winchester Model 94 lever-action rifles. Four are loaded with a single Winchester Silver Tip 150-grain .30-.30 cartridge. This relatively light bullet expands well at short distances. The fifth rifle fires a blank. The shooters lean on a rest and fire through slits in the partition. None of the shooters knows who has the blank. What’s the point of the 5th person having a blank? I always thought it was that only 1 had a real bullet and 4 had blanks so they wouldn’t know who shot the guy. With 4 real bullets, chances of you actually hitting the guy is super high.
- Gas Chamber – The gas inhibits the blood’s hemoglobin from transferring oxygen to the body’s cells, causing cellular suffocation. Death occurs in 2 to 18 minutes, often with convulsions as the body writhes for oxygen.
- Lethal Injection – While the condemned may have a peaceful outward appearance because of the barbiturate and relaxant, internally his lungs are imploding and his organs are writhing. Death usually occurs in 6 to 13 minutes.
What isn’t too common for executions is what most people describe as a painless death, or used for suicide or euthanasia: Carbon Monoxide. Some describes it as falling asleep. It just strikes me as odd when there’s this much more peaceful way of killing people, but we still result to somewhat brutal ways like electric chair or gas chamber.