Delayed execution/Verspätete Hinrichtung

Christopher Newton, aged 37 and weighing about 120 kg (265 pounds) could not be executed for 2 hours because it was so difficult to find a vein in his arm. This is one of the objections to the death penalty: the impossibility of guaranteeing it can be administered humanely. The Chillicothe Gazette reports:

Newton weighed at least 265 pounds, and prison medical staff struggled to find veins on each arm. The execution team stuck him at least 10 times with needles to get in place the shunts where the needles are injected. He continued to talk, smile and laugh with the prison staff; sometimes his belly would jiggle. At one point, he was given a bathroom break. When he eventally was moved from his holding cell and strapped to a table in the death chamber, he made this short statement: “Yes, boy, I could sure go for some beef stew and a chicken bone. That’s it.”

This was therefore a delay before he left the holding cell.

Newton's last words were an apology to the family of a fellow-prisoner he strangled while they were playing chess.

In an interview with reporters last month, Newton said he killed Brewer because he repeatedly gave up while they were playing chess. “Every time I put him in check, he'd give up and want to start a new game,” Newton said. “And I tried to tell him you never give up … I just got tired of it.”

I have had that problem before operations myself. Must be careful.

(Deutsche Fassung über Handakte WebLAWg)