With the present thread, I would like to start a little discussion about one big problem apparently emerging in the State of Alabama.
Theoretically speaking, the State of Alabama could become the best death penalty state right now. Prosecutors are open to seek the death penalty steadily and frequently, every year we have a guaranteed number of new death sentences (do not forget about the non-unanimous jury rule) and new executions, and there are no kangaroo courts like the TCCA giving out stays like candies. Still, we have a problem, a huge problem: the extreme and absurd incompetence of the execution team.
It is not acceptable that EVERY SINGLE TIME the execution team has to take hours to establish an IV line, a process that - in a normal person and in other states, like Texas - is completed in a matter of minutes. We're supposedly talking about professionals here, not amateurs. I can concede that Doyle Hamm's veins were extremely compromised by his cancer and his drug-addiction past, but he should have been the exception, not the norm. Every single time, media witnesses report of abnormally long waits, obscure communication, and unjustified delays which tarnish the entire process with an incomprehensible shade, and often happen to imperil it. This time, Alan Miller execution has been called off. Last time, Joe James' sentence has been carried out on the razor's edge. What will happen next time?
I would like to discuss this matter with you all. What can be done about it? What do you think about it? Are my worries justified on exaggerated? I look forward to hear your opinon on that.
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