Killer executed with new lethal drug combo

A condemned Ohio inmate appeared to gasp several times and took more than 15 minutes to die Thursday as he was executed with a combination of drugs never before tried in the U.S.

Dennis McGuire's attorney, federal public defender Allen Bohnert, called his client's death "a failed, agonising experiment by the state of Ohio."

The state used intravenous doses of two drugs, the sedative midazolam and the painkiller hydromorphone

More than a minute later he raised himself up, looked in the direction of his family and said, "I love you. I love you" his words audible even though the microphone had been removed.

McGuire was still for almost five minutes, then emitted a loud snort, as if snoring, and continued to make that sound over the next several minutes. He also soundlessly opened and shut his mouth several times as his stomach rose and fell.

"Oh my God," his daughter, Amber McGuire, said as she observed her father's final moments.

A coughing sound was Dennis McGuire's last apparent movement, at 10:43 a.m. He was pronounced dead 10 minutes later.

Source

I dont know what i would consider a humane way to die but that certainly doesnt sound like they got it right.

If you had to choose a way to go what would it be?

I wonder if Joy Stewart, who was pregnant at the time McGuire raped and stabbed her to death, had a humane death?

schuyler
I wonder if Joy Stewart, who was pregnant at the time McGuire raped and stabbed her to death, had a humane death?

I was thinking the exact same thing.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


I thought the whole point of the lethal injection was to first put the person to sleep then to stop the heart, it should be a painless event.

If i was his family i would sue the state for a prolonged death experience.

I find the death penalty just wrong and so old testament eye for an eye BS. He got the easy way out he should have spent the rest of his time in prison thinking about what he did for the rest of his life.
If I had to pick a way to go it would be fired up on a massive rocket towards the sun.

I've never understood why the death penalty has to come in some form or fashion that requires so much technicality. It seems so much simpler, cheaper and a quicker to use a guillotine or a well placed bullet directly in the medulla oblongata.

Anyhow, on topic, this seems like it would fall in the category of cruel and unusual punishment. I predict there will be a public outcry, lawsuits will be filed and temporary stays of execution will be granted until a more humane was of execution can be implemented.

wlasikiewicz
reply to post by PhoenixOD

 

If i was his family i would sue the state for a prolonged death experience.

Who does Joy Stewart's family get to sue for her "prolonged death experience"?

He was executed with a Benzodiazipine and opiate overdose, if anything his last moments were probably euphoric, there's a reason people abuse those drugs. Seems like he got off easy to me.

reply to post by schuyler


I totally understand but even death row inmates have Human Rights.

After spending time on Death Row, you're finally told that your last appeal was turned down, & that the Governor has declined to stay your execution. You're told it's on for tomorrow, & given a time. After a long night they come for you, bring you your last meal if so desired, then walk you to the room where your story will come to an end with people watching, most of whom will be cheering for your executioner. As they strap you onto the gurney, you know that your death is racing toward you like a runaway freight train that nothing will stop.

Whether you're for or against the death penalty, let's not get into a bunch of BS about a "humane death". IMO, when you get down to the details of how the drug(s) will perform, you're just nit-picking. Do you suppose this guy would have wanted instead to have inhaled cyanide gas, or to have been given a seat in Old Sparky?

wlasikiewicz
reply to post by schuyler

 

I totally understand but even death row inmates have Human Rights.

That begs the question that a painless execution is a "human right." I'm not convinced that it is or that it has been enumerated or accepted by most people. There is also the issue that here is McGuire, who "gets to" murder this young woman, stabbing her repeatedly after raping her--certainly not a humane death, then McGuire is granted a "humane death" by falling gently asleep? I suppose in our relativistic culture "fairness" is not a universal concept, but it seems to me to express shock and outrage over the method of his death while completely forgetting his victim's suffering is appalling. Try to find out something about Joy Stewart, a 22 year old recently married woman about to have her first child.

You can't find a thing about her. Now it's all about McGuire and his "painful death."

That's what I find appalling.

Remember Joy Stewart!

On a purely academic way I think the principal of the death penalty is wrong..
On a more personal level .. I couldn't care less about it. Probably
be more upset about animal cruelty.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


What's that I hear?? What's that I smell? Oh yeah....

A LAWSUIT!!!


Poor kid watching her father pass on....I know he was a criminal and all, but no child should have to see her father suffer like that....I really feel bad for the kid, until the millions poor in from the lawsuit that is.....Why do people under the death penalty need killed "humanely" again? Hanging or firing squad are waaaaay cheaper....

Maybe those who feel the death penalty is such a necessary thing to do to people who may or may not have done whatever to whomever....

Should take them vindictive selves, and a bunch of other vindictive little cretins, and protest to be able to execute them all by your vindictive little selves.

Bet most of you wouldn't even have the stomach to do it, but you certainly have endless amounts of hate and vindictiveness to spew.

You "get even types" seem to miss the message, the guy would have eventually died anyway, it's the state making you feel like you have been vindicated or whatever, when nothing was done to anyone at all.

What a bunch of " Jerry Springerites", this whole country is so full of idiots it nearly terrifies me to even associate with most of you on a day to day basis.

I am not familiar with the specific crime or case he was convicted of, but in any trial by a "Jury Of My Peers", the last thing I would feel is any safer, because my "Peers" are mostly stupid people.

This person had no right to take the Girls life. What right do we have to take he's?

What gives us the upper hand to justify killing this man?

I dont get it; if killing is wrong. How can we justify this?

FYI, local press has covered almost zero comments from the victims family. They lost two that day, one an unborn child.

The inmate spent 20 years in prison before the execution.

by the sounds of it he got what he deserved and i truly believe he is not going to heaven! i would have wanted the opportunity to torture him myself. i would like to die in my sleep.

slippeddisc
by the sounds of it he got what he deserved and i truly believe he is not going to heaven! i would have wanted the opportunity to torture him myself. i would like to die in my sleep.

But don't Christians believe in forgiveness?

Years later and all the fancy drugs and they cant get a simple thing right.

Use a damned guillotine, tried and true.

I cant imagine how terrible the family must have been, they didnt need him go through that weather he deserved it or not.

Why don't they use carbon monoxide? People die of that every year from improper ventilation. From what little I know, it's like going to sleep and never waking up. That sounds painless AND inexpensive.