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Thread: Company sued over prison executions

  1. #1
    G'day mate! Stranger
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    Company sued over prison executions

    http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/821...son-executions

    Botched lethal injections left two American prisoners to die in agony after they were allegedly administered defective anaesthetic supplied by a British drug company.

    The UK's Mail on Sunday reports legal action has been brought by the campaign group Reprieve after two murderers were given fatal injections while still conscious.

    Emmanuel Hammond, 45, who raped and murdered a teacher Julie Love in 1988 was executed by the state of Georgia last month, while 31-year-old Brandon Rhode, who murdered three members of the same family in 2000, was put to death last September.

    Reports suggest both kept their eyes open when they should have been in a coma, and Hammond grimaced in pain.

    Lawyers for Reprieve aim to force the British pharmaceutical regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA), to recall all the anaesthetic supplied for executions by London based Dream Pharma.

    US "execution protocols" say the anaesthetic, sodium thiopental, must be administered first in lethal injections to render the prisoner fully unconscious.

    The person is then given pancuronium bromide, a muscle relaxant that makes it impossible to breathe, and potassium chloride, a caustic chemical that stops the heart.

    Professor Sheri Johnson, of Cornell University law school, a member of Hammond’s legal team, said she watched him throughout. She added: "He closed his eyes perhaps ten seconds after the drugs started. But then, sometime later, he opened them again.

    "Perhaps one or two minutes after that, his mouth screwed up to one side. It looked painful, as if it could be a grimace of pain."


    If successful, the legal action would halt executions in Georgia and many other states.

    The paper said Dream Pharma had failed to respond to requests for comment and an MHRA spokeswoman said it could not comment on the pending legal action.

    Total craziness! Many people have open eyes when they are comatose, this is why we in the hospital often tape them shut and apply ointment so that the eyes don't dry out..... DUH!! I see no actual scientific evidence here to suggest a problem with the drug, doesn't even seem that they have had a vial of it analysed!

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Geez...the anti's are like magicians! What will they pull out of their hat next.

    Acccording to Josh Green, media witness for the Gwinnett Daily Post this is how the execution went,

    Warden Carl Humphrey, a hulking and deep-voiced man, confirmed all witnesses were present. He asked that viewers remain quiet, and called a Jehovah’s Witness chaplain for prayer. Hammond, breathing hard, nodded when the chaplain called him “a faithful servant.” He had no last words, no audible remorse.

    11:26 p.m. The controversial drug was administered first. Hammond’s lips lifted with his breathing, nostrils flaring. He yawned. He mouthed a couple words to someone in the second row, but the mic was turned off. Next was pancuronium bromide (a paralyzing agent) and lastly potassium chloride (the heartbeat stopper). Hammond’s muscled arms relaxed on the gurney. A man who Adler assured me was the victim’s fiance in 1988 fainted in the front row, his head draped back over the bench. Hammond’s head drooped toward his right shoulder, his mouth opened slightly and eyelids parted. Two doctors entered the room. They examined his chest and eyes, gave the nod.

    There is no mention that Hammond's eyes were open after the administration of sodium thiopental. Green reported, PARTING of the eyelids after potassium chloride was delivered. Reprieve is really reaching on this one!

  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    I messaged Josh Green to see if he had anything to add to what he had reported and this is what he replied...

    Heidi -

    I spoke to Reprieve on this topic at length on Saturday. I'll have to stand
    by what's in the article, the one on viewing the execution. I don't know
    anymore than what I saw.

    Thanks,

    --
    Josh Green
    Staff Writer, Gwinnett Daily Post

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