Florida wasted little time trying to get executions back on track after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Kentucky can continue using lethal injection to carry out the death penalty.
Attorney General Bill McCollum quickly sent paperwork to the U.S. Supreme Court asking for permission to go ahead with the execution of child killer Mark Dean Schwab, who the state was supposed to kill last November. Kentucky and Florida have nearly identical lethal injection procedures.
Gov. Charlie Crist immediately asked for a list so he can pick who among the state's worst killers should now prepare to die.
Crist will have plenty to choose from: There are 338 people on death row.
The governor said he wants a list of five or so death row inmates who have served the longest or committed the worst crimes so he can sign his second death warrant since taking office in January 2007.
"Justice delayed is justice denied and an awful lot of families of the victims have been waiting for justice to be done, and so that's certainly an important factor," Crist said. "But in addition, the heinous nature of the crime itself is important to consider."
Gary Alvord has been on death row the longest. Last week marked the 34th anniversary of his arrival there after being convicted of killing three Tampa-area women.
Schwab's case easily falls in the heinous category, and the governor will have to set a new date for his execution if the Supreme Court agrees Florida can resume lethal injections.
Schwab was supposed to be executed last November for raping and murdering 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez in 1991. The boy was strangled or suffocated. He received his stay just four hours before his scheduled procedure. His death was held up while the U.S. Supreme Court considered the Kentucky case.
McCollum said his belief that Florida's executions "are constitutionally sound has been upheld by the highest legal authority in the nation."
Last year was the first since 1982 that there wasn't an execution in Florida. Gov. Jeb Bush placed a moratorium on executions as Crist was getting ready to take office. Bush called for a study of lethal injection after it took twice as long as usual - 34 minutes - for convicted killer Angel Diaz, 55, to die in December 2006.
An investigation found the needles had been pushed through Diaz's veins into his flesh, reducing the drugs' effectiveness.
Corrections officials responded by ordering more training and monitoring of its execution team. The new procedures also include a delay after the first chemical, the anesthetic sodium pentothal, is injected to make sure an inmate is unconscious before the other drugs are administered.
The second chemical causes paralysis and the third stops the heart from beating, which can result in severe pain if a person is conscious.
Critics of the three-drug system say the paralyzing drug is unnecessary and prevents an inmate from showing any sign of pain. Some have advocated using only sodium pentothal because it also is lethal in large doses.
Crist lifted the moratorium when he signed Schwab's death warrant in July.
The Florida Supreme Court rejected arguments about lethal injections from Schwab this year. His lawyers said the state Corrections Department execution team botched two of five training sessions using recently adopted procedures.
Schwab's lawyers also contend that during the exercises, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement official who is supposed to monitor the mixing of lethal chemicals, was insufficiently trained.
Bookmarks