AP Features, February 25th, 2007
Death row inmates' consciousness should be monitored throughout executions and those administering lethal injections need additional training, according to a panel's preliminary recommendations released.
The 11-member panel was assembled to review Florida's death penalty procedures after a botched execution in December took twice as long as normal and required a rare second dose of deadly chemicals. Some witnesses said convicted killer Angel Nieves Diaz appeared to be in pain, and then-Governor Jeb Bush suspended all executions.
Nieves Diaz's executioner testified that he had not received training in seven years, which most panelists acknowledged was not adequate.
But not all members of the commission agreed with the preliminary recommendations.
Dr. David Varlotta, an anesthesiologist, said executioners require advanced medical training, but an individual with such qualifications would be breaching their own profession's ethical code.
"The state doesn't require teachers and lawyers to perform tasks that are unethical," he said.
But Rodney Doss, director of victim services for the state Attorney General's Office, countered: "Individuals who served as executioners when Florida had the electric chair as a means of executions didn't necessarily have to be electricians."
The panel also recommended placing all accountability with the warden, who must be identified as the ultimate authority in the execution process.
Panel members will meet again Sunday to construct a first draft, which will be submitted to members for a vote next week. The panel's report is due to be sent to Governor Charlie Crist by March 1.
Nieves Diaz, 55, who was from Puerto Rico, was sentenced to death for killing a Miami topless bar manager 27 years ago. He had proclaimed his innocence.
Florida ranks fifth among U.S. states that have held the most executions since the U.S. government lifted a moratorium in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Since then, Florida has executed 64 people; the top state, Texas, has carried out 383 executions.
In Delaware, a federal judge on Friday granted class action status to all state inmates facing the death penalty, including them in a suit charging lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual.
The decision puts all executions on hold, but Delaware had not scheduled one since a May 2006 stay of execution for convicted ax murder Robert Jackson. That stay now applies to the other 15 inmates facing execution. A trial is scheduled in September.
Delaware ranks as No. 15 on the DPIC list, with 14 executions since 1976. Thirty-eight of the 50 U.S. states have the death penalty.
