Today I was reading the news on CNN.com and I came across an article about the Supreme Court blocking an execution at the last minute. I am not an opponent of the death penalty, nor am I a supporter. I feel that the death penalty is acceptable for certain things.
Anyways, onward. The person who is up for the death penalty is Earl Wesley Berry. He is sentenced to death for kidnapping and beating to death a woman leaving her church in 1987. He's currently on death row in Mississippi. This happens to be the third time that the Supreme Court has intervened in this persons eventual demise.
The twist to this story is that Mr. Berry asked for a delay until the Supreme Court can rule whether or not the lethal injection is cruel and inhumane. Now I agree, and I've said in a comment to a previous blogger's post that I think that the concoction used is not appropriate and should be redone.
My point is with this particular case, this murderer tortured this poor woman by beating her to death and then disposed of her in a wooded area. He had no regard for the pain and suffering that he put that poor woman through. Now he has the audacity to claim that the lethal injection is cruel and inhumane treatment. For this particular case, I say suck it up.....
I have had a couple of surgeries and have been sedated by anesthesia. I'm here to tell you that you don't feel anything. Even after I woke up it took a long time to feel anything but nausea. After one operation I remember waking up answering the same question that I was when I went to sleep. I was not even aware that they had already performed the surgery. The pain does not hit until later. The doctors could have smashed my testicles with a sledge hammer and I would not have even winced.
I have a hard time believing there is anything cruel and inhumane about the lethal injection. And at the time those words were written in the Constitution, both hanging and firing squads were acceptable forms of execution and did not meet the standard of cruel and unusual. The intent of the drafters was clearly not for their words be used to prevent the death penalty.
The thought is that it is possible to be paralyzed before actually receiving the sedation, or that the paralytic will work quicker than the sedative. Or even that the potassium may "burn" in the arm of the subject prior to sedation. I just think they need to change the sedative and also allow the appropriate time for each phase of medication to work. Although there are some scum out there that I would mind see suffering prior to their death, they deserve it more so than their victim... but I digress and save that debate for another day.
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Respectfully,
Adam
A-Team Member
Maybe he should've thought about pain before he killed that woman. Prisoners have been executed in much harsher ways ... he's got the easy way out.