This week I was selected to serve as a state witness for the execution of inmate Michael Taylor. While I have always been a proponent of the death penalty nothing could have prepared me for what the night would bring.
It was not what I am sure you are thinking. The night, while very long was one that was peaceful, so peaceful that I actually felt it could have been said to be another punishment on the victim’s family.
Unlike events you might picture in your mind or have witnessed in movies, Missouri uses lethal injection and in this case the drug phenobarbital. The inmate is on a medical gurney (looks like a bed) in a room. You have the state witnesses in one room with curtains, the inmate’s family in another room with curtains and finally the family of the victim in a third room with curtains.
The curtains are opened and you see the inmate laying peacefully on what looks like a bed and is covered up to his head with several white sheets. What you don’t see is the victim is strapped to the bed and held firmly in place. Then at 12:01am the curtain is pulled closed and while none of the witnesses can see the inmate, he receives the injection of phenobarbital. Then the staff leaves the room and the curtains are pulled back and what those witnessing see is just a man lying peacefully on the bed.
In this case he took two big breaths while looking over at his family and then appeared to fall asleep. We then watched for several minutes and then they pulled the curtains again. During this time just like when giving the injection none of the witnesses were viewing these actions. The medical staff had reentered the room behind the closed curtains and checked for vitals. Once confirmed that no vital signs were present time of death, this was noted to the state witnesses. Then the curtains were closed and we went back out to the original waiting room that we had started the night in and signed a certificate to be delivered to the Missouri Supreme Court that the execution had been completed.
Now what I felt and what others stated that evening seem to match up. Why does the inmate’s family get to be present? Does this not cause more pain and suffering to the victim’s family? By not actually witnessing the medical portions of the execution does it take away from the closure for the victim’s family? These and other questions were brought up among the state witnesses.
Now what I felt and what others stated that evening seem to match up. Why does the inmate’s family get to be present? Does this not cause more pain and suffering to the victim’s family? By not actually witnessing the medical portions of the execution does it take away from the closure for the victim’s family? These and other questions were brought up among the state witnesses.
The facts in the case make it even harder to take. Michael Taylor was in prison eating three meals a day, watching TV and having access to gym equipment and other activities for almost 10 years longer than his young victim Ann Harrison was alive on this earth!
Michael Taylor and his accomplice kidnapped, raped and the stabbed to death with kitchen knives 15 year old Ann Harrison as she pleaded for her life and tossed her in the trunk of a car while still alive. It was later determined by medical professionals that it most likely took Ms. Harrison upwards of 30 minutes to bleed out and die of her wounds. Now knowing this information it makes me question the amount of time after appeals it took to carry out this execution and the reasons that have brought this length of time about.
In response to this and a letter I have received on another “death row” case I have introduced one piece of legislation dealing with the Death Penalty already and I am working on a second piece to follow up.
The first bill, HB 1855, http://www.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills141/biltxt/intro/HB1855I.HTM, will force the hand of the Missouri Supreme Court. Currently by Missouri law once all appeals have been exhausted by a person on “death row” (Missouri no longer has a death row as the inmates are in general population) the Missouri Attorney General issues a writ of execution requesting the Missouri Supreme Court to set a date for execution and issue an execution warrant.
In response to this and a letter I have received on another “death row” case I have introduced one piece of legislation dealing with the Death Penalty already and I am working on a second piece to follow up.
The first bill, HB 1855, http://www.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills141/biltxt/intro/HB1855I.HTM, will force the hand of the Missouri Supreme Court. Currently by Missouri law once all appeals have been exhausted by a person on “death row” (Missouri no longer has a death row as the inmates are in general population) the Missouri Attorney General issues a writ of execution requesting the Missouri Supreme Court to set a date for execution and issue an execution warrant.
Currently there is no time frame on how quickly this must be done. Currently requests have been filed from the Attorney General’s office for execution dates for fifteen inmates. Below is a list of inmates and the date it was requested. Currently only one inmate on the list has a date set and that is Jeffrey Ferguson on March 26th, 2014. As you can see this system is greatly flawed and in some cases we have been waiting over six years for an execution date to be set for a person that is guilty of the most heinous of crimes and has exhausted all appeals.
Jeffrey Ferguson 4/14/06, and again on 6/8/07, John Middleton 6/8/07, William Rousan 6/8/07, John Winfield 6/8/07, Russell Bucklew 6/8/07, Earl Ringo 4/17/08, Mark Christeson 4/17/08, Cecil Clayton 5/17/12, David Barnett 5/17/12, Leon Taylor 5/17/12, Walter Storey 5/17/12, Andre Cole 5/17/12, Michael Worthington 5/17/12, Paul Goodwin 5/17/12 and David Zink 5/17/12.
The legislation that I have filed will require the Supreme Court to review a request from the Attorney General within thirty days and set and have carried out the requested execution within sixty days.
The second piece of legislation that I am currently still working on and hope to file next week will both increase the methods of execution legally allowed to be used in Missouri and put in protections against future suits concerning the potential for pain or suffering during an execution.
Jeffrey Ferguson 4/14/06, and again on 6/8/07, John Middleton 6/8/07, William Rousan 6/8/07, John Winfield 6/8/07, Russell Bucklew 6/8/07, Earl Ringo 4/17/08, Mark Christeson 4/17/08, Cecil Clayton 5/17/12, David Barnett 5/17/12, Leon Taylor 5/17/12, Walter Storey 5/17/12, Andre Cole 5/17/12, Michael Worthington 5/17/12, Paul Goodwin 5/17/12 and David Zink 5/17/12.
The legislation that I have filed will require the Supreme Court to review a request from the Attorney General within thirty days and set and have carried out the requested execution within sixty days.
The second piece of legislation that I am currently still working on and hope to file next week will both increase the methods of execution legally allowed to be used in Missouri and put in protections against future suits concerning the potential for pain or suffering during an execution.
Stating simply that under Missouri Law when the crime of Capital Murder is committed and the punishment of execution is the verdict set forth, that the state understands that a certain amount of limited pain may transpire during the execution process and that due to the nature of the crime committed this is neither cruel or unusual and is deemed appropriate for the crime committed.
3 comments:
Waste of time. This is legislative pandering. One of the tricks legislators use to appeal to voters is to slightly adjust existing laws to make it seem like they are really tough and concerned about some issue that is already on the books.
For example, there are already laws against selling drugs, then some pandering legislator wants to introduce a new law making the penalties worse for selling drugs within so many feet of a school.
It's fluff that they can pull out at election time to sway voters because it's emotional in nature - harder to do something meaningful regarding jobs, economy, etc., and even if they did it doesn't stoke the fire of the populace in quite the same way.
We already have a death penalty. We already have laws and punishments for murder. This is emotional grandstanding.
I believe in light of recent events as the Golden City Mo girl and the Springfield Mo girl, that the parents of said children should be the ones that decide the method of the "death penalty" whether it be hanging, firing squad, lethel injection, or electric chair. I myself, if someone in my family were to die by the hands of these murderers I would have to pick the electric chair, I believe pain in his final hours on this earth is just what he/she needs since that is what was felt by his victims. We need to make these laws stick ! Period ! No appeals if having been found guilty, and within 60 days the death penalty.
Yes, lets hurry up the executions.
Otherwise people like Cameron Todd Willingham might get a chance to discover the truth.
Evidence of Concealed Jailhouse Deal Raises Questions About a Texas Execution
"In the 10 years since Texas executed Cameron Todd Willingham after convicting him on charges of setting his house on fire and murdering his three young daughters, family members and death penalty opponents have argued that he was innocent. Now newly discovered evidence suggests that the prosecutor in the case may have concealed a deal with a jailhouse informant whose testimony was a key part of the execution decision."
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