Wednesday Reads: Botched? Horror.
Posted: April 30, 2014 Filed under: just because 84 Comments
Civil Rights Congress, 1949, linoleum cut, or linocut History Fact: artist and sculpture Elizabeth Catlett
Morning
Nothing Good about it, when this is the kind of headlines you see on websites across the internet, via HuffPo:
Inmate Dies After 20 Minutes… Breathed Heavily, Writhed On Gurney, Clenched Teeth, Tried To Lift Up Head… Vein ‘Exploded’… ‘Conscious And Blinking, Licking His Lips’… Secret Drug Cocktail… WITNESS: Inmate Cried Out ‘Man’ – After He Was Declared Unconscious… Had Sued State Over Safety Concerns… Next Execution Postponed… ATTORNEY: It ‘Looked Like Torture’…
STUDY: 1 In 25 Death Row Inmates Is Innocent...
Geez…how horrible. No matter what anyone personally feels about the death penalty. This is a nightmare…
Oh my God:
Erick Erickson said on twitter that it wasn’t “botched” because it was less horrible than the murder the man was convicted of. So, you know, we’re good and they’re evil. Jesus said so, I’m pretty sure. Or maybe not.
Elizabeth Catlett ~ My right is a future of equality with other Americans (from the series I am the Black woman), 1947 (linocut)
Not OK: The state of Oklahoma tortured a man tonight
This is not supposed to happen in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave:
McALESTER, Okla. — What was supposed to be the first of two executions here Tuesday night was halted when the prisoner, Clayton D. Lockett, began to twitch and gasp after he had already been declared unconscious and called out “man” and “something’s wrong,” according to witnesses.
Some people in America are squeamish about using the word “torture” — but if this isn’t torture, what the hell is?
“This was botched, and it was difficult to watch,” said David Autry, one of Mr. Lockett’s lawyers.
A doctor started to administer the first drug, a sedative intended to knock the man out, at 6:23. Ten minutes later, the doctor said that Mr. Lockett was unconscious, and started to administer the next two drugs, a paralytic and one intended to make the heart stop.
At that point, witnesses said, things began to go awry. Mr. Lockett’s body moved, his foot shook, and he mumbled, witnesses said.
At 6 :37, he tried to rise and exhaled loudly. At that point, prison officials pulled a curtain in front of the witnesses and the doctor discovered a “vein failure,” Mr. Patton said.
A couple of things here. Let’s deal with the obvious first: Clayton Lockett (who did die, of a heart attack, 40 minutes into the process) committed a horrific crime — he and his accomplices also tortured the 19-year-old woman that they murdered. He deserved to spend every day of the rest of his life behind bars. But at the end of it all, there’s a reason why we like to call ourselves a civilization. Society is supposed to be better than the individuals that we must punish, and so the answer to violence is never pre-meditated state-sponsored violence. That’s why the death penalty has been virtually banned by advanced democracies, and for the most part only takes place for the most part in ruthless dictatorships like North Korea, China, and Saudi Arabia.
John Buckland Wright
More at the link or you can read up on the background of the cases here: Oklahoma Botches Execution, Postpones Another — NYMag
After a lengthy legal battle over Oklahoma’s refusal to disclose the source of drugs used in lethal injections, two men were scheduled to be put to death tonight in the state’s first double execution since 1937. However, the second inmate was given a stay of execution after the first execution went horribly awry. Ten minutes after he was injected with a sedative, Clayton Lockett, 38, was declared unconscious. Then as the doctor injected two drugs meant to paralyze him and stop his heart, Lockett began to writhe on the gurney and tried to get up. “This was botched, and it was difficult to watch,” said attorney David Autry, who represented Lockett.
A curtain was closed to prevent witnesses from seeing what was happening, and a doctor discovered that Lockett’s vein had ruptured. “There was some concern at that time that the drugs were not having that (desired) effect, and the doctor observed the [vein] at that time and determined the line had blown,” Robert Patton director of the Department of Corrections, said at a press conference. Lockett’s execution was halted 20 minutes after the first drug was administered. About 25 minutes later, he died of a heart attack.
I am sure more blogs will have discussions on this today…we will see what comes of it as the news cycle progresses.
Meanwhile, I will give you the rest of the links in dump fashion, I feel another migraine coming on…and the nausea is hitting me all of a sudden:
Southern tornado death toll hits 34 as storm system heads east – latimes.com
Senators back out of revealing drone death toll | Al Jazeera America
Cannonfire_: Slavery: You’re wearing it
Charles White, Bessie Smith | Harvard Art Museums, linocut
Preparing for War in Indianapolis: Inside the NRA Plot to Terrify America – The Daily Beast
This is creepy:
Sheriff urged to clamp down on armed militiamen around Bundy ranch
A growing number of Bunkerville residents want to see the armed militiamen guarding rancher Cliven Bundy leave Nevada, according to a letter from Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., to Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie.
Horsford, whose congressional district includes Bunkerville, wrote that his constituents are concerned about Bundy supporters carrying weapons near local churches, schools and elsewhere….
Wait, it gets worse.
The letter also says militiamen have a presence on state and local roads as well as federal highways. In some areas, according to the letter, militiamen have set up checkpoints where drivers are stopped and asked to provide a proof of residency….
There’s no government for these people, except what suits them. There’s no law, except what they agree with. Even if you think border enforcement is the absolute #1 priority for the U.S. government, with everything else a distant second, which one of us got to vote on designating these clowns as our new Border Patrol?
You can argue that these self-appointed substitutes for legally constituted law enforcement agencies are taking the Declaration of Independence seriously — “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness], it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it” and all that — but they decide who constitutes “the people,” and they don’t care that the majority of us, however dissatisfied we might be, didn’t ask for a revolution, and certainly didn’t ask
“Liberty of Expression,” a poster issued in support of student protests before Mexico City 1968 Olympic Games, by Adolfo Mexiac Calderόn
them to be our vanguard army, or to choose the issues over which the fighting should take place.
More at the link.
Gawd..if I didn’t feel like puking because of this headache that Beck story alone would do the trick.
Jezebel: Iowa College Lets Accused Rapist Choose His Own Punishment
Wait…that was the icing on the cake.
Think of this as an open thread and have a good day.
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
JJ Lopez aka Minkoff Minx
peggysue22
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Oh JJ, thank you for writing about the “botched” execution. I saw that story about the Oklahoma nightmare last night. My God! The story I read said they closed the curtains after 16 minutes so observers couldn’t see what was happening. That they waited 25 more minutes and then called it off. But the man died of a heart attack afterwards. I told Dak last night that Oklahoma must be in another country. But this happened in Ohio too. We are devolving into savagery.
Devolving into savagery in almost every direction. I have a hard time believing a majority of the country wants to go this way. The ultra-rich, with the aid of the loud stupid, are taking us over a damn cliff.
All in the name of a Rabbi that spoke frequently of peace, mercy and forgiveness. These right wing nuts are just inhumane, uncivilized, morally muddled barbarians. They belong with the Taliban.
Oklahoma has always been a bit of wild state but this is beyond the pale.
I could not agree more to save my life!
I did not see anything about it until real late when I started to write the post, and I was horrified. But my head was so painful that I could not even put into words what I felt. I still am so disturbed by the whole thing. I just keep on thinking of that scene in Green Mile, the cruelty when that one character is executed without the water on the sponge. Ugh.
I thought the title of this LG&M post says it all: “…nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” – Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money
Inhumane.
How can anyone in a medical/health care profession participate — let alone prescribe or administer the drugs involved — in this procedure? Horrifying.
And what was the excuse for not watching the vein, or the IV line? Those shouldn’t just suddenly “blow” all by themselves. When was the last time that physician started an IV — back in med school? Or is he simply incompetent?
They probably couldn’t find any legitimate doctor to do such an unethical thing.
Wouldn’t it be refreshing for once to see the same “hue and cry” rise up against the barbarity of the death penalty as we have heard from those who have weighed in regarding the racism of Donald Sterling? Or how about the same level of outrage when “Duck Dynasty” was cancelled?
For the past week we have been subjected to “interviews” with just about everybody who may have at one time been associated with the NBA over the last 30 years – even from those who have not set foot on a basketball court in years – to discuss a man whose blatant racism has been evident for decades.
Yet when it comes to issues that do have a lot more impact on the population at large – in this case the savagery of putting someone to death in the name of “justice” – very little time is given over to a discussion of a law that has been banished even in less sophisticated countries.
I am in no way exonerating Sterling but this is just another illustration of how we prioritize the issues. Sterling has been practicing his racism for decades which makes the outcry all the more hypocritical when some of these people flock to the microphone to express their “anger”.
Women have been systematically abused by morons making statements that would take away their right to choose and there is little outrage shown on their behalf as states, one by one, vote to deny them their rights. The same applies to the strangulation of voters rights.
While Donald Sterling needs to be publicly castigated for his views why do we give little attention to the issues that are even more egregious and have more impact on our lives while we sit here and watch more of our rights being chipped away?
If we put as much time and energy into addressing the wrongs that have more of a profound effect on ourselves as a nation we may show that we are still capable of effecting policy than spending time signing petitions on behalf of Duck Dynasty.
Just saying.
I agree but the MSM, and thus most passive people, only do one thing at a time. Whenever one of these public outrages occurs, I always wonder what else is happening that we’re not being told about? Look hard enough and there’s probably a much bigger story not being told at all.
Precisely. It has been over a week and most cable and news shows have “devoted” hour upon hour, day after day, to covering Sterling and his racism as if there was nothing else worth reporting.
We get it: the guy is a sleazeball on more than one level. The NBA ruled: end of story.
But this death penalty tragedy that borders on barbarism will probably have a 24 hour run before it disappears. Just like the proliferation of guns in the hands of just about anybody who wants to settle a score, the issue will fade quicker than Boehner’s tan.
My voting rights may be in danger. No big deal. My access to healthcare may be in jeopardy. Not to worry. My environment may be suffering from deregulation. Big deal.
Let’s just focus on some horny old man with a billion dollars who is the symbol of all the hatred we can muster while other “shiny objects” that deserve more attention float out into the atmosphere.
Read this here: ESPN Host Completely Nails The Part Of The Sterling Controversy Everyone Has Ignored
Chicago Woman Gunned Down After Leaving Anti-Violence Fundraiser She Helped Plan
No one is talking about Cliven Bundy anymore either.
Yesterdays news
Fuck ya Pat! Exactly. Which is why I chose those specific woodcuts for the post this morning…as a little statement about the connections of expressing just that.
It’s not a zero sum game. Both stories address the inherent racism that continues to exist in our culture. Prisoner abuse is as much a continuation of slavery as is the abuse and exploitation of athletes at the professional and college level. I see a very clear connection between the two stories and plenty of headlines and trending about both.
I agree.
Yeah that is what I was meaning too…y’all got it. (along with the news about all those innocent in death row too…and they are mostly along racial lines) I just could not get the shit down in words. my head is still pounding. night all.
NYT: Two Giant Banks, Seen as Immune, Become Targets
This seems like a welcome change. More than two banks are discussed in the story.
I’d be happier to see some U.S. banks be held criminally accountable.
JPMC and CitiBank, and others, are mentioned as potential targets.
Oh no: Bob Hoskins dies aged 71 | Culture | The Guardian
Other movie news…
Star Wars: Episode VII Cast
I love Bob Hoskins! Mona Lisa blew me away.
Yeah. He was also in The Long Good Friday which is one of the most compelling movies that I have ever seen. (Plus, it stars Pierce Brosnan when he was still eye candy)
Well, White County High School is on lock down, don’t know why police will not say. That is the county just south of us. Anyway, here is the latest on the fedex shooting:
Police ID 19-year-old gunman in FedEx rampage | AccessNorthGa
Report: FedEx gunman ‘joked about shooting up workplace’ | http://www.ajc.com
630WPRO.COM | The Voice of Rhode Island – Incendiary Devices Found at Scene of FedEx Shooting [From ABC News]
Newlywed, one of six wounded in attack on Georgia FedEx building, clinging to life – NY Daily News
And keeping up with Florida as well…no just with the gun everywhere bill: Georgia governor signs law to drug test some welfare recipients | Reuters
Let’s drug test the governor and congresscreatures first.
Ditto
Update on the High school lock down at county next door…Student with gun prompts lock down at WCHS | AccessNorthGa
That was an excellent Cannonfire post on Uzbekistan & its child slavery politics.
JJ, Thanks for writing this whole SD post — I’m sure it was not easy. But you spoke out.
Thanks luna.
Hey, here is something else to think about:Jurors were quickly convinced the shootings had been planned | Star Tribune
I am going back to bed, hopefully this aleve will kick in. I am tired of all this shit.
Great post this morning JJ.
😉
Holy Hannah! Militia jerks are stopping cars and questioning people? WTF?! This is getting really weird. I’m glad I don’t live in Nevada. Bundy and the militia guys should be arrested, but the Feds are probably afraid of triggering a bloody shootout.
I know right? I saw this documentary last night called Shenandoah. It was about the murder of a Mexican man in Penn a few years ago. He was beaten to death by a group of teen age boys. Wow. If anyone has netflix, go and see it.
BTW, Frontlline last night was on prisons and last week it was on solitary confinement. I haven’t watched the shows yet. I don’t know if I can stand to.
It is all so disturbing. But there is a part of me that feels twisted. I think of Ariel Castro and how much I would have like to see him suffer a death like this…geez you get what I am saying. That is what bothers me personally. I feel disgusted, so disgusted. But then I can pick one person (Castro for instance) and think..nope, I would not have any problem if this execution happened to him. Only, it my warped mind it would not have been a “botched” job…it would have been planned to be torture from the beginning…and it would have been something everyone understood and known about too. See…I am really fucked up about this death penalty shit. I don’t agree with it…at all…but when that Castro shit went down. Geez. For him…I would have liked to see him suffer.
“I feel disgusted, so disgusted. But then I can pick one person (Castro for instance) and think..nope, I would not have any problem if this execution happened to him. Only, it my warped mind it would not have been a “botched” job…it would have been planned to be torture from the beginning…and it would have been something everyone understood and known about too.”
JJ, I have the same issue. There is a category of criminal, one that tortures, rapes then murders, particularly those who are in the serial offender category like Ariel Castro, who I would not shed a tear over. When Osama Bin Laden was killed, I was relieved and grateful to the men who took that menace out of this plane of existence.
I remember people like Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Gary Ridgeway, all men who raped and sadistically tortured and murdered women and children and when I think of them my mind instinctively differentiates them for other sort of murderers . I know that I should be able to see their humanity and understand they are mentally ill, but I cannot. Many of the characters in that category only get life in prison because they do deals to give up lists and locations of those they’ve murdered, for a sentence of life imprisonment. To my mind that is proof that they value their own lives so much that they see a life sentence as a bargain.
I do know this, if any man did to my partner, my child or grandchild what the men in this serial killer category did to their victims, I would try to kill the bastard myself. I suppose that makes me bad, but so be it..
Yeah Mouse…me too.
My primary objection to the death penalty is today and has always been that: A) The death penalty isn’t a deterrent. B.) our criminal justice and judicial system aren’t really adequate to determine what crimes are heinous enough to rise to the level of the ultimate price and what crimes are not. Plus, far to many innocent people have died at execution and I there’s no way to resolve that issue.
Still I’m a hard-ass and a pragmatist who believes that the punishment should fit the crime and that there are some people who are too dangerous and evil to risk the possibility that they may offend again.
ooops, I left out I’m also a bit of a contrarian. Not a nice thing to be!!!
I know. There has finally been some attention paid to the ongoing torture of inmates in our prison system. I saw that it was going to be on but I forgot to record it.
The saddest part is that more than half of the people in prison are there for non-violent drug related offenses and many of them don’t even belong in prison, they belong in rehab or in work release half-way facilities.
The For-Profit prison industry generates much of the over-sentencing problem and they need to be put out of business.
Seriously, local and state authorities are responsible for enforcing laws against those jerks unless and until they ask the Feds to come in and help out. The local sheriff should really go first after all. Nevada’s governor can call in the National Guard.
Maybe their sheriff is a participant in the Sovereign Citizen movement,
They should just shoot them all with animal tranquilizers via a drone and scoop them up.
Exactly. They need to quit fucking around with these home-grown terrorists.
The Boston Globe published the name of the first drug that was administered:
They used 1/5 the amount used in Florida. Apparently this is a drug used for seizures. It’s a benzodiazepine, like Valium.
Do you know anything about this drug, Luna?
I would not doubt that someone wanted to see how much pain they could inflict. I mean, if they have a solid example to follow…why use so little of the drug? Unless since it was a double feature, and they had lack of funds…or whatever, they decided to split the dose between the two?
Ohio increases drug dosage for executions
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/crime-law/ohio-increases-drug-dosage-for-executions/nfj9T/
I don’t know why they don’t just use a firing squad and get it over with. Is a firing squad to cruel and unusual? The thing that riled me the most about the OK governor is that she violated a Court Order just to prove that she COULD botch an execution.
Meant to say, Cruel and inhumane.
Didn’t have a non-work Intertubez connection for most of today, so late reply.
I looked up midazolam, since it’s not a med I use in my practice. There is no recommended dose for executions, of course, since that’s not an FDA-approved indication, nor have there been clinical trials as evidence upon which to make guidelines. (Partly satirical there, and partly because of course it’s not ethical.)
It’s used medically for anesthesia sedation, and dosages are usually based on body weight. For a 250-lb man, 100mg would be around (not exactly) the dose for pre-anesthesia sedation. Guidelines are in addition to administer 25% of that starting dose again at 15-min intervals if there is any concern about insufficient sedation.
So no, 100mg would in no way be an appropriate amount for lethal sedation — much too low.
And any effing idiot with a calculator and drug reference book could figure out that 100mg was too low.
tpm: Justice Scalia Makes Epic Blunder In Supreme Court Opinion
Scalia is either really losing it or is just phoning it in now.
I think he lost it awhile back. I’ll bet he has some serious frontal lobe damage.
I thought the clerks work up those things…I mean help out with them.
That’s what I hate about the SCOTUS, Appointment for Life. Maybe the old codger has Alzheimer’s or some other dementia. Even if his clerks wrote it, he should be guiding the process and proof reading.
This may be one of Job Stewart’s best, an epic takedown of both Princess Dumbass and the NRA …
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jon-stewart-hits-sarah-palin-waterboarding-terrorists
wonkette: Hot Gossip: Cliven Bundy’s Militia Buddies Have Broken Up, Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
The Oaf Keepers may have said fuck it to the Bundy party. Hilarity ensues.
Thank you JJ for exposing the botched execution in Oklahoma, especially since you did so while suffering a migraine headache. It was a nightmare, and I tossed and turned most of the night. I looked into the mirror at this white face, and a few more lines were visible. My throat squeezed into a knot, and this morning it released an anger. As I read more on the case that anger roared, and makes me tremble. I think of Clayton Lockett, and I think of others, who were lunged into death by the walls of their chest. It’s not a smooth death, not that one. I can’t take it, because I had a family member who was put to death (hanged) in the state of Mississippi for a robbery/theft that ended with murder.
The issue is not the guilt of people being executed, the issue is the disregard for the state and federal constitutional amendment about cruel and unusual punishment. I use to talk with Jessica Mitford about her book “Kind and Usual Punishment”, and her insight was valuable. Look were we are, terrifying and torturing. They sonavitch ordered him to be put to death, she went over the state laws and ordered his murder. Ten minutes after his death she calls for investigation, like she wasn’t had no control over the matter. She disregarded the laws, and his life. I hope she is fired.
It sounds to me like something is going to come to a head in the Bundy/Nevada case. Keep your eyes peeled, because they are asking for an armed attack.
I think this is what I am wrestling with personally…. not totally being against the death penalty when it comes to some of the few , Ariel Castro is one…but with the expressed feeling that those few deserve the pain and torture when it does happen….deliberate pain and torture. Like for Castro, slice his entire genital area off with no pain med or anesthetic and let him bleed to death, while hanging from chains around his wrist…the ones he used on his victims.
I just think they should be put in prison cells and basically given minimal humane treatment. Let them just spend their lives living withing their warped minds and no place else.
That’s my feeling. I am completely against the death penalty because the state should not murder people. Not to mention the percentage of people on death row who are innocent. No appeal can ever release a dead person.
I have to be able to draw that line, where there is a point that things become too horrible that people deserve death. That is part of my make up…and my protective instinct. Not as a mother, but I think as a Sicilian and a Spaniard. It is a family thing.
I’m feeling ya JJ. Maybe it’s a Sicilian thing or maybe it’s because you’ve been on the receiving end of a vicious crime where the perpetrator didn’t get the punishment he deserved. Regardless, there is room for two points of view on this and those points of view can come from the same person (ambivalent). Don’t feel bad about your feelings, I’d say that many people feel the very same thing you feel because there is a category of monster who deserves to pay the ultimate price. I don’t think the world would have shed any tears if Hitler had made it to Nuremburg and been sent to the gallows. To my mind, serial killers are Hitler or a smaller victim scale.
I understand JJ………….most of us do struggle with the issues involved in the death penalty. Believe you me, if Ariel Castro or any other person committed gruesome crimes against my family, I’d be doing some killing myself. Even if it wasn’t my family, if a man raped a girl, I would be very cable of killing.
I don’t believe in the death penalty. I don’t think our government should be in the business of killing. It’s bad enough with the politics of prison (big business), politics of drugs. It might make you think it provides you with healing, but that is momentary like. You might think putting one to death helps you go on with your life, but not really. It’s haunting. It’s nothing new, nothing old, nothing much at all. By next week we will have forgotten about this, and the governor’s decision to overrule the 8th amendment. The executioners will act like nothing went wrong. Dead is dead, and it was bloodless to their eyes.
Since 1976, 270 blacks have been put to death and 20 whites. Somebody is being treated unjustly and so it’s cruelling. Last week Hurricane Carter died, once he was set free from death row, he spent the rest of life helping those who were innocent be set free like he was. He was successful, not a hundred but a hand full were released and proven to be innocent.
People can be put away for life, I don’t want them living next door to me, or free. I want to know who they are, where they are. This death business is madness, pure madness.
I think this article from Bob Cesca says what I feel pretty well…The Botched Execution of Clayton Lockett and Why I’m Ambivalent About the Death Penalty | The Daily Banter
It is best if you all read the whole thing.
I understand how you feel. The problem I have is the idea of the state killing people, especially when the death penalty is not a deterrent and it is meted out unfairly–to poor people and black people. Most troubling of all is the fact that so many innocent people have been wrongly convicted and even executed.
LA Times: Burglars live the high life off rooftop bank heists
This case could make a good movie script!
BARBARIANS IN OKLAHOMA
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/oklahoma-botched-executions-043014
That was just epic!
We are definitely creatures of an unhappy country, we are barbarians!
Some good news at least…Justice: Montana top court overturns teacher’s one-month rape sentence | Reuters
Hope he gets what he deserves this time. I also hope they whack that judge hard enough that he feels it in retirement!
Pierce: The Minimum Wage Increase Died In The Senate Today
I despise these people, using the term people loosely of course.
Elaine White: When Life Meets Dogma
Life has a way of winning out. Fine post by a a local writer.
mediaite: Rick Scott’s Hunt for Obamacare Horror Stories Didn’t Go So Well
Tough out there for Gov Voldemort 😉
Bwahahahaha! Such a shame!
Wow! This is the most powerful set of images I’ve ever seen on a blog post.
Brava, JJ!!!
JJ is amazing!