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Missouri executes Brian Dorsey for 2006 double murder after mercy bid backed by 72 correctional officers (www.cnn.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The state of Missouri on Tuesday executed Brian Dorsey for the 2006 murders of his cousin, Sarah Bonnie, and her husband, Benjamin Bonnie, after an effort to have his life spared failed in recent days.

Dorsey’s time of death was recorded as 6:11 p.m, the Missouri Department of Corrections said in a news release. The method of execution was lethal injection, Karen Pojmann, a spokesperson for the department, said at a news conference, adding it “went smoothly, no problems.”

The execution of Dorsey, 52, occurred hours after the US Supreme Court declined to intervene and about a day after Missouri’s Republican governor denied clemency, rejecting the inmate’s petition – backed by more than 70 correctional officers and others – for a commutation of his sentence to life in prison.

Dorsey and his attorneys cited his remorse, his rehabilitation while behind bars and his representation at trial by attorneys who allegedly had a “financial conflict of interest” as reasons he should not be put to death. But those arguments were insufficient to convince Gov. Mike Parson, who said in a statement carrying out Dorsey’s sentence “would deliver justice and provide closure.”

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The method of execution was lethal injection, Karen Pojmann, a spokesperson for the department, said at a news conference, adding it “went smoothly, no problems.”

We don't actually know that, because lethal injection (needlessly) includes a paralytic. His death could have been slow agony and there would be no way to know. Lethal injection is quite possibly the most brutal method of execution the US has ever employed. If I end up on death row I'll pray for the firing squad.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Lethal injection is quite possibly the most brutal method of execution the US has ever employed.

Citation needed.

I’m absolutely putting electric chair and execution chamber above it.

The paralytic is the first thing to potentially kill you as you stop breathing. Then the barbiturates also stop you breathing. Then the potassium stops your heart.

None of this would qualify as agonizing in comparison to getting electrocuted or breathing poisonous gas. The worst pain seems to be would be related to getting venous access or potential infiltration from a bad stick. A paralytic and barbiturates are not causing pain.

I don’t agree with the death penalty, but lethal injection isn’t the worst we’ve used.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If performed correctly, without human error, it should kill inmates quickly and painlessly. Yet each of the four main steps involved — securing IV access and then injecting each of the three drugs — has raised medical concerns. Starting an IV can be very difficult on a person who is obese, nervous or cold or who has a history of IV drug use, any one of which is not an unlikely complication in an inmate about to killed. Sodium pentothal is not packaged in solution, meaning the executioners must mix the powder with water just before killing, a somewhat delicate thing to do. The pancuronium bromide, or paralytic, prevents observers from determining if the inmate is properly anesthetized, since he can’t speak or move. Potassium chloride, which stops the heart, creates a burning sensation in the veins and might cause excruciating pain if the inmate is not properly anesthetized. (These concerns, and others, appear in the 1953 British report.)

https://web.archive.org/web/20170203051825/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/magazine/11injection.t.html

Anaesthesia during lethal injection is essential to minimise suffering and to maintain public acceptance of the practice. Lethal injection is usually done by sequential administration of thiopental, pancuronium, and potassium chloride. Protocol information from Texas and Virginia showed that executioners had no anaesthesia training, drugs were administered remotely with no monitoring for anaesthesia, data were not recorded and no peer-review was done. Toxicology reports from Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina showed that post-mortem concentrations of thiopental in the blood were lower than that required for surgery in 43 of 49 executed inmates (88%); 21 (43%) inmates had concentrations consistent with awareness. Methods of lethal injection anaesthesia are flawed and some inmates might experience awareness and suffering during execution.

https://web.archive.org/web/20130729013249/http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2805%2966377-5/abstract

I mean, it's all subjective. The electric chair is up there, for sure. I do think I'd rather be gassed. But the thought of being paralyzed, unable to move, while my veins are burning? That's terrifying. My main question is: why the paralytic? The barbiturates are supposed to put you under, and the potassium is what kills you. The answer is the comfort of the executioners and witnesses.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Those are all valid concerns but still not “the most brutal method of execution the US has ever employed” IMO. That’s what I take issue with. If you look at edge cases for hanging, firing squad, electric chair etc. you’ll find far more brutal executions due to complications.

For most people it’s a quick death. If nitrogen or helium asphyxiation wasn’t available, I’d go for lethal injection.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Lethal injection gets botched badly enough that people notice it 7% of the time, the highest of any execution method. And again, those are the botchings we know about, because the method is designed to hide its failures. We have evidence (which I've already cited) that this may happen up to 40% of the time. In contrast, the next highest rate of botchings is gassing with 5%. I stand by my statement (which was hedged). Between how awful the botched deaths might be and the sheer number of them relative to how many are performed, it could well be the most brutal method.

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/botched-executions

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago

because the method is designed to hide its failures

I think that's the real issue here. We will not ever know the severity unless they stop administering the paralytic.

I'm not sure why something like a simple barbiturate overdose isn't enough for these people. The cruelty seems to be part of the point, as if knowing the specific date and time of your death isn't cruel enough.