Execution Puts Crist To Test

Published: Dec 15, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - Death penalty opponents are questioning the way Florida executes people - and wondering whether a new governor will change anything - after it took 34 minutes for Angel Diaz to die from lethal injection Wednesday.

Gov.-elect Charlie Crist weighed in with caution, a far cry from his position eight years ago when, as a state senator, he quipped, "I don't care if you fry them or inject them, as long as you kill them."

Crist said Thursday: "You wonder about the dosage and if there may have been some better medical diagnosis done prior to that."

As he prepares to take over from Jeb Bush, who ordered a review of the execution Thursday, Crist will be forced to do more than wonder.

"There's a quote from Abe Lincoln that says anyone can be tested by adversity; if you want to test someone, give them power," said Mark Elliott of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "So this will be a test for Charlie Crist."

Bush, in office for two more weeks, agreed that any decision on modifying Florida's execution policy will be Crist's.

Crist won the governor's race in part by appealing to moderate voters, but his early political success came from tough-on-crime stands that earned him the title "Chain Gang Charlie."

"He had been a rather vociferous, aggressive, almost neo-conservative in his earlier days," said Julian Pleasants, a University of Florida professor and expert on Florida political history. "Now the question is, how will he govern?"

The Diaz execution is an issue Crist would like to avoid, Pleasants said. "This could be a can of worms for him. I think he's treading very lightly."

"But he's not going to be able to avoid it," Pleasants said. The governor signs the order that sets in motion each Florida execution and has the bully pulpit to push for changes to laws.

On Thursday, it appeared Crist's hand is already being forced.

Lawsuit Names Crist As A Defendant

Diaz's attorneys and a group of Florida's death-row inmates filed an emergency petition with the state Supreme Court, seeking an independent autopsy of Diaz - or at least the right for an independent expert to attend - and a moratorium on executions.

Crist, who is attorney general, is named as a defendant.

According to the lawsuit, state officials claimed the slow death was "not unanticipated" because Diaz had liver disease, which delayed the effect of the lethal chemicals and thus made a second dose necessary.

Executions in Florida normally take about 15 minutes, with the inmate rendered unconscious in the first three to five minutes.

But defense lawyers and Diaz's family questioned whether the state anticipated the outcome. Diaz did not have liver disease, according to the lawsuit, and if prison officials had information to the contrary, they were obligated to modify the lethal injection "protocol" to avoid cruel and unusual suffering.

An affidavit from lawyer and execution witness Neal Dupree said that during the prolonged execution, "Mr. Diaz appeared to be speaking, it was my observation that he was in pain. His face was contorted, and he grimaced on several occasions. His Adam's Apple bobbed up and down continually, and his jaw was clenched."

Bush said a review is appropriate, "given the unusual length of time it took for the process to be complete." But he said there needs to be sympathy for the families hurt by Diaz's crimes, too.

Memo Says Accomplice Caused Man's Death

Diaz was convicted in the 1979 robbery and murder of Miami bar manager Joseph Nagy. His accomplice, Angel Toro, got life in prison.

Diaz insisted he was innocent of the murder. Amnesty International noted that a prosecutor's memo in the case said that although three subjects pulled out guns and announced a robbery, "Defendant Toro shot Nagy once in the chest causing his death."

Pleasants said it's unlikely Crist would change his strong support for the death penalty because of the problems with the Diaz execution.

"Obviously, he's going to have to pay a lot of attention to his conservative base," Pleasants said. The question will be how successful Crist is in juggling his moderate and conservative appeal.

Crist also has pledged to make open government a cornerstone of his administration, and that could clash with the secrecy that has surrounded parts of the execution process.

"The Department of Corrections and the state have repeatedly objected to public record requests and requests for evidentiary hearings in all cases in which a lethal injection challenge is pending," the lawsuit alleges.

In the Diaz case, death penalty opponent Elliott charged that "the first execution was botched, and the entire process was repeated."

"These chemicals are prohibited to put down animals with, yet we use them on human beings," Elliott said.

Late Thursday afternoon, the Supreme Court granted the request for an independent representative to witness the Diaz autopsy; ordered the 5th Judicial Circuit Court in Marion County to review other claims in the lawsuit; and ordered that Diaz's body be preserved pending that review.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Kevin Begos can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or kbegos@tampatrib.com.