This is from CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/12/14/diaz.exe...=rss_topstories
I am not a bleeding heart by any means but this story cought my eye. OPINIONS?
STARKE, Florida (AP) -- Death penalty opponents criticized the execution of a convicted murderer who took more than half an hour to die and needed a rare second dose of lethal chemicals.
Angel Nieves Diaz, 55, convicted of murdering a Miami topless bar manager 27 years ago, appeared to grimace before dying Wednesday, 34 minutes after the first dose.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said she doesn't believe Diaz felt any pain and had liver disease, which required the second dose.
"It was not unanticipated. The metabolism of the drugs to the liver is slowed," Plessinger said.
Diaz's cousin Maria Otero said the family had never heard he suffered from liver disease.
"Why a stupid second dose?" Otero said.
Gov. Jeb Bush said the Department of Corrections followed all protocols.
"A preexisting medical condition of the inmate was the reason tonight's procedure took longer than recent procedures carried out this year," the governor said in a news release.
A spokesman for Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, called Diaz's death a botched execution.
"They had to execute him twice," Mark Elliot said. "If Floridians could witness the pain and the agony of the executed man's family, they would end the death penalty."
In most Florida executions, the prisoner loses consciousness almost immediately and stops moving within three-to-five minutes. Two doctors watching a heart monitor then wait for it to show a flat line. They then inspect the body and pronounce death. The whole process happens within 15 minutes.
Diaz appeared to move for 24 minutes after the first injection. His eyes were open, his mouth opened and closed and his chest rose and fell. He was pronounced dead 10 minutes after his last movement.
Plessinger said Thursday that prison officials told her a second dose had been used before on an inmate, but they did not know when. The state has never announced publicly that the extra chemicals were needed. Until a revised protocol came out in August, prison officials did not keep records on events in lethal injections.
Diaz's final appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court challenged the chemicals used in the state's procedure, saying they constitute cruel and unusual punishment. His appeals were rejected about an hour before his execution began.
Attorneys for him and other condemned inmates have been unsuccessfully challenging Florida's three-chemical method, saying it results in extreme pain that an inmate cannot express because one of the drugs is a paralyzing agent.
Moments before his execution, Diaz again denied killing Joseph Nagy during a robbery at the Velvet Swing Lounge. There were no eyewitnesses to Nagy's December 29, 1979, murder. Most of the club's employees and patrons were locked in a restroom, but Diaz's girlfriend told police he was involved.
The governor of Diaz's native Puerto Rico sought clemency for him. Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, abolished capital punishment in 1929.
Full Version: Cruel and unusual?
More about this.....
OCALA, Florida (AP) -- The execution of a convicted killer took 34 minutes -- twice as long as normal -- because officials botched the insertion of the needles that delivered the lethal chemicals, a medical examiner said Friday.
Gov. Jeb Bush responded to the findings by halting the signing of more death warrants until a commission he created to examine the state's lethal injection process completes its final report by March 1.
Dr. William Hamilton, who performed the autopsy, said the needles pierced Angel Nieves Diaz's veins and then went into soft tissue in his arms. The lethal chemicals are supposed to go directly into the veins.
Hamilton refused to say whether he thought Diaz died a painful death.
"I am going to defer answers about pain and suffering until the autopsy is complete," he said. He said the results were preliminary and toxicology tests and other tests may take several weeks.
Diaz, 55, was put to death Wednesday for murdering of the manager of a Miami topless bar during a holdup in 1979. The condemned man not only took 34 minutes to die, but also needed a rare second dose of the lethal chemicals. (Watch officials explain why it took 2 injections and 34 minutes Video)
The medical examiner's findings contradicted the explanation given by prison officials, who said Diaz needed the second dose because liver disease caused him to metabolize the lethal drugs more slowly.
Hamilton said that although there were records that Diaz had hepatitis, his liver appeared normal.
In halting the signing of any more death warrants, the governor said he wants to ensure the process does constitute cruel and unusual punishment, as some death penalty foes argued bitterly after Wednesday's execution.
Executions in Florida normally take no more than about 15 minutes, with the inmate rendered unconscious and motionless within three to five minutes. But Diaz appeared to be moving 24 minutes after the first injection, grimacing, blinking, licking his lips, blowing and appearing to mouth words.
As a result of the chemicals going into Diaz's arms around the elbow, he had an 12-inch chemical burn on his right arm and an 11-inch chemical burn on his left arm, Hamilton said.
Florida Corrections Secretary James McDonough said the execution team did not see any swelling of the arms, which would have been an indication that the chemicals were going into tissues and not veins.
David Elliot, spokesman for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said experts his group had contacted suspected that liver disease was not the explanation for the problem.
"Florida has certainly deservedly earned a reputation for being a state that conducts botched executions, whether its electrocution or lethal injection," Elliot said. "We just think the Florida death penalty system is broken from start to finish."
OCALA, Florida (AP) -- The execution of a convicted killer took 34 minutes -- twice as long as normal -- because officials botched the insertion of the needles that delivered the lethal chemicals, a medical examiner said Friday.
Gov. Jeb Bush responded to the findings by halting the signing of more death warrants until a commission he created to examine the state's lethal injection process completes its final report by March 1.
Dr. William Hamilton, who performed the autopsy, said the needles pierced Angel Nieves Diaz's veins and then went into soft tissue in his arms. The lethal chemicals are supposed to go directly into the veins.
Hamilton refused to say whether he thought Diaz died a painful death.
"I am going to defer answers about pain and suffering until the autopsy is complete," he said. He said the results were preliminary and toxicology tests and other tests may take several weeks.
Diaz, 55, was put to death Wednesday for murdering of the manager of a Miami topless bar during a holdup in 1979. The condemned man not only took 34 minutes to die, but also needed a rare second dose of the lethal chemicals. (Watch officials explain why it took 2 injections and 34 minutes Video)
The medical examiner's findings contradicted the explanation given by prison officials, who said Diaz needed the second dose because liver disease caused him to metabolize the lethal drugs more slowly.
Hamilton said that although there were records that Diaz had hepatitis, his liver appeared normal.
In halting the signing of any more death warrants, the governor said he wants to ensure the process does constitute cruel and unusual punishment, as some death penalty foes argued bitterly after Wednesday's execution.
Executions in Florida normally take no more than about 15 minutes, with the inmate rendered unconscious and motionless within three to five minutes. But Diaz appeared to be moving 24 minutes after the first injection, grimacing, blinking, licking his lips, blowing and appearing to mouth words.
As a result of the chemicals going into Diaz's arms around the elbow, he had an 12-inch chemical burn on his right arm and an 11-inch chemical burn on his left arm, Hamilton said.
Florida Corrections Secretary James McDonough said the execution team did not see any swelling of the arms, which would have been an indication that the chemicals were going into tissues and not veins.
David Elliot, spokesman for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said experts his group had contacted suspected that liver disease was not the explanation for the problem.
"Florida has certainly deservedly earned a reputation for being a state that conducts botched executions, whether its electrocution or lethal injection," Elliot said. "We just think the Florida death penalty system is broken from start to finish."
I am ashamed of my state. 
Just heard on PBS that Jeb has put a two month moratorium on executions.
QUOTE(Pie @ Dec 15 2006, 01:56 PM) 
I am ashamed of my state.
Although I am against the death penalty, when it is administered, it should be no less compassionate than putting down a family pet. There are ways of ending a life without pain and suffering... a cocktail of drugs to cause deep unconsciousness and then a lethal dose of potassium chloride or phenobarbital. In any event, it should be done only with swift compassion. Personally, I would prefer that some other form of justice was available...
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