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It's a sad thing when the jury gives
the answer the Court is seeking. But it shows how civilized
our country is when we struggle with something the rest of the
world no longer needs to discuss, discussion having been rendered
moot by the banning of the practice.
According to Amnesty International,
the United States, together with China, Iran and Viet Nam account
for 97 percent of all known executions that took place in 2004.
In April and May the United States had three encounters with
the death penalty. The amateurs came out best.
The first took place in the
United States Supreme Court. On April 26 the Court struggled
with the important question of whether administering the death
penalty by lethal injection caused pain for the victim. It is
a great civilization that wonders if killing someone is painful
for the object of the exercise. We do not cut off heads or hang
people in public forums. We try to make execution of the guilty
as pleasant for them as is humanly possible.
In executing people by lethal
injection a combination of drugs is used that, in Tennessee at
least, may not be used when euthanizing animals, because the
effect on the animal is considered painful and thus inhumane.
On April 26 the court wrestled with the question of whether what
was painful for animals could nonetheless reasonably be used
on people in connection with a Florida execution. During oral
argument, and with perfectly straight faces, the Justices considered
the most humane way for a civilized society to kill the undesirables
among them. Members of the court asked whether Florida had taken
steps to make sure that the drugs were administered in the most
humane and painless way possible
Justice Scalia, a poker player
who calls a spade a spade, and is not concerned about killing
people who deserve to be killed, trenchantly observed that hanging
was not a "quick and easy way to go" although he stopped
short of suggesting its reintroduction, notwithstanding the obvious
entertainment value inherent in a public hanging.
While the court dealt with
the abstract question of how to humanely kill, Joe Clark dealt
with it on a more personal level. Mr. Clark killed a gas station
clerk in Ohio back in 1984 and was sentenced to death by lethal
injection. His execution took place on May 3, 2006. His execution
proved to be a technical challenge. It took 90 minutes to get
rid of him. It was his fault. Not that he struggled. He simply
didn't have a really good vein through which the death dealing
liquids could be inserted.
Death's ministers poked around
his body for about 25 minutes until they located a compliant
vein. The vein soon tired of its task as conduit and when the
inmate lifted his head and announced he did not seem to be dying,
the sluggard was abandoned in favor of a more compliant participant.
The process was then resumed and Mr. Clark was dispatched. While
the Court struggled with how state sponsored executioners should
humanely kill their fellow man and the Ohio folks did it, a small
group of amateurs showed an unexpected touch of humanity seemingly
lacking in the others.
In a courthouse in Alexandria,
Virginia, a group of 12 men and women had to decide whether to
sentence someone to death for his involvement in the events of
9/11. Throughout his trial Zacarias Moussaoui displayed his contempt
for them, for the victims and for the court system in which he
was being tried. He did all in his power to make himself repugnant
to the jurors and most of the rest of the country.
The jury found that Mr. Moussaoui
had concealed his knowledge of Al Qaeda's plans to fly planes
into buildings. Had that information been disclosed, even an
agency as incompetent as the FBI might have taken notice and
done something about it. His failure to speak up is what qualified
him, as the expression goes, for the death penalty. The jury
declined to impose it.
Mary Jo White, the U.S. attorney
in Manhattan had co-signed Mr. Moussaoui's indictment. Though
disappointed in the jury's verdict she said: "It sends a
very helpful message to the rest of the world about the American
judicial system. Fairness is paramount. It shows that in a highly
charged case such as this, an American jury could reach this
verdict."
Others can judge for themselves
what it says to the rest of the world when the highest court
in the land spends time deciding on the most humane method of
killing its citizens as retribution for crimes they have committed
and executioners in Ohio spend 90 minutes killing one of its
citizens.
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