First US execution by lethal injection after moratorium

by amyjudd | May 6, 2008 at 01:58 pm | 378 views | 4 comments

UPDATE - May 6 | 5:28 pm PDT - William Earl Lynd was pronounced dead at 7:51p.m. EDT.

It came less than an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected efforts to block it.

The
roughly three dozen states around the country that use lethal injection
held off on carrying out any executions for more than seven months
while the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed the constitutionality of the
three-drug cocktail that's used. It was the longest pause in U.S.
executions in a quarter century.

The Supreme Court last month upheld the legality of lethal injections, and Georgia was the first state to carry one out.

An execution will take place in Georgia at 7pm tonight, which will be the first person to be put to death since the Supreme Court ended a de facto moratorium on capital punishment in April.

William Earl Lynd is due to die by lethal injection at a prison in Jackson, central Georgia, at 7 p.m. (2300 GMT) for shooting his girlfriend Ginger Moore three times in the head and face in December 1988, authorities said.

Lynd buried his victim in a shallow grave near Tifton, south Georgia. Soon afterward, while driving to Ohio, he shot and killed another woman but he has not been convicted of that crime, according to the state attorney general's office.

Campaigners who oppose the death penalty say they plan demonstrations in five cities in Georgia at the time of the execution, as well as outside the prison.

Lynd's lawyers have appealed to the state's Supreme Court for a stay of execution, arguing that experts who described the murder scene in court exaggerated what they saw.

The court was not expected to rule on the stay before Tuesday afternoon, according to court spokeswoman Jane Hansen.

Had the experts described the scene accurately, Lynd would not have been charged with aggravated murder and kidnapping, crimes that warrant the death penalty in Georgia, according to Laura Moye of Amnesty International.

"This is the crazy world of death penalty cases. The timelines go pretty much down to the wire," said Moye, adding that a final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court might also be possible.

Flag this story

Upload

Make your good story a great story. Click here to add your photos & video to this story.

Crowd Power

Scan the web to add photos and videos to this story or add them from the NowPublic Archive.

politisite

at 14:55 on May 6th, 2008

good stuff:

amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 18:36 on May 6th, 2008

good stuff:

amyjudd, it's unfortunate the Supreme Court lifted its moratorium and Lynd's lawyers (as of now) could not obtain a stay of execution. Thanks for posting this important story.

everchanging

at 00:50 on May 7th, 2008

good stuff:

amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff. I know its not right to say.

As time would have it, it all came down to a deadline.

everchanging

at 14:16 on May 7th, 2008

It took 17 minutes for this person to die, no tears, no prayers, no emotion - just silence.

(my opinion)

17 long minutes where this person was aware of the surrounding, but could not move, react or indicate any sense of life within other then breathing. Now how human is this.

Here is the cocktail, which is used by most states in the u.s. if this form of execution is used:

First - The inmate is connected to an electrocardiogram (EKG) machine, which will be monitored for flat line to determine when the heart stops and death has occurred.

The drugs are administered, in this order:

* Anesthetic - Sodium thiopental, which has the trademark name Pentothal, puts the inmate into a deep sleep. This drug is a barbiturate that induces general anesthesia when administered intravenously. It can reach effective clinical concentrations in the brain within 30 seconds, according to an Amnesty International report. For surgical operations, patients are given a dose of 100 to 150 milligrams over a period of 10 to 15 seconds. For executions, as many as 5 grams (5,000 mg) of Pentothal may be administered. This in itself is a lethal dose. It's believed by some that after this anesthetic is delivered, the inmate doesn't feel anything.

* Saline solution flushes the intravenous line.

* Paralyzing agent - Pancuronium bromide, also known as Pavulon, is a muscle relaxant that is given in a dose that stops breathing by paralyzing the diaphragm and lungs. Conventionally, this drug takes effect in one to three minutes after being injected. In many states, this drug is given in doses of up to 100 milligrams, a much higher dose than is used in surgical operations -- usually 40 to 100 micrograms per one kilogram of body weight. Other chemicals that can be used as a paralyzing agent include tubocurarine chloride and succinylcholine chloride.

* Saline solution flushes the intravenous line.

* Toxic agent (not used by all states) - Potassium chloride is given at a lethal dose in order to interrupt the electrical signaling essential to heart functions. This induces cardiac arrest.

Source Via how stuff works on how lethal Injection works

Also some examples of botched executions cases can be found via: deathpenatlyinfo.org