The execution team members in the botched execution of Jesse Tafero

At approximately 7:OO a.m. on the early morning of May 4,

1990, Jesse Tafero was escorted into the Death Chamber at the

Florida State Prison to be executed. Inside the chamber with Mr.

Tafero were:

Superintendent Tom Barton;

L. E. Turner, Assistant

Superintendent for Operations;

Lt. Don Davis, Administrative

Officer;

A. D. Thorton, Chief Correctional Officer;

Dr. Frank Kilgo, Chief Medical Officer;

Bill Mathews, Physician's Assistant;

Ron Thornton, Maintenance Construction Supervisor;

and

A1 Martin, Assistant Maintenance Construction Supervisor. (DOC

Report at l)(App. 9 ) .

witnesses, including two former Florida Highway Patrol officers,

in addition to various other law enforcement officers and

Department of Corrections personnel.

designated members of the National and Florida Media Corps,

In the witness room were the official

Also in attendance were the

including:

McGarraghan of the Miami Herald; Bruce Ritche of the Florida

Times Union; Mark Davis of the Tampa Tribune; Ronald Word of the

Associated Press; and Larry Keller of the Ft. Lauderdale Sun

Sentinel. Other individuals including Gary McClain of the

Inspector General's Office of the Department of Corrections and

the Rev. Robert Baker were also present to witness. The

Cynthia Barnett of the Gainesville Sun; Ellen

%lnfortunate circumstances . . . result[ing] in the rather

bizarre visual accounts of the execution" (App. 9, DOC report),

were now only six minutes away. Cynthia Barnett described what

happened next:

People told me what executions would be

like.

clinical.

They used adjectives like sterile,

Another reporter who had seen one told

me a toddler could be standing in the middle

of the death chamber during an execution at

Florida State Prison and never know what

happened.

happened to Jessie Joseph Tafero, a man whose

execution was far from sterile.

But a toddler would have known what

Tafero was led into the death chamber

Friday morning at 7 : 0 2 .

perhaps with fear, but he appeared brave --