Gov. Charlie Crist ended a seven-month moratorium on executions Wednesday, signing the death warrant of a man who raped and killed an 11-year-old boy.
But lethal injection experts question whether the state has done enough to prevent a repeat of the botched execution of Angel Diaz.
Crist signed the death warrant of Mark Dean Schwab, convicted of murdering Junny Rios-Martinez in Brevard County in 1991. The execution date was set for Nov. 15, allowing the courts to first hear a legal challenge to lethal injection.
The execution would be the first since December, when dislodged IVs caused Diaz to writhe through a prolonged execution. A state commission subsequently studied the execution procedure, recommending 37 changes that the governor later adopted.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said the state's execution team has now been trained under the new procedures. Physical changes to the death chamber at Florida State Prison are also complete, she said.
"We're ready to go," she said.
The changes include doubling the size of the death chamber and installing closed-circuit monitoring for execution team members to monitor the inmate's face and IV access points. In Diaz's execution, dislodged IVs caused lethal chemicals to seep into his flesh and take about 20 minutes longer than normal to kill him.
Lethal-injection experts such as Fordham University law professor Deborah Denno said changes were hastily made and fall short of preventing another botched execution.
"They have not even begun to approach what is acceptable," she said.
She said problems include continued ambiguity about the qualifications of execution team members.
"It's like the more specific they get, the more they get criticized, so they just keep everything vague," she said.
The death warrant comes at the same time that Florida Death Row inmate Ian Deco Lightbourne is challenging the lethal injection procedure. While that case is still being heard in a Marion County courtroom, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday scheduled hearings on the case for October.
Schwab's attorney, Mark Gruber, said the scheduling of the hearings suggested the state expects challenges will be resolved in the weeks before the execution. But he said he didn't expect the death warrant would be signed before that happens. "This warrant kind of took us by surprise," he said.
In a written statement, Crist said he was confident that the execution procedure was consistent with the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Florida's execution procedure is similar to the method used in 36 other states with lethal injection. Inmates are first injected with sodium pentothal to render them unconscious, followed by pancuronium bromide to paralyze the muscles. Potassium chloride is then injected to stop the heart.
While Crist accepted changes to the lethal injection process, he rejected suggestions to eliminate the second drug from the mix. Gainesville Circuit Judge Stan Morris, a member of the lethal injection commission, had questioned whether the drug masked whether inmates were awake and felt the final drug burn through their veins.
The American Veterinary Medical Association bans the use of the drug on euthanized animals for that reason. The drug's continued use shows the state wants to prevent involuntary movements rather than ensure inmates don't feel pain, said Dr. Jonathan Groner of the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
"The only purpose of the paralytic drug is for the audience and not for the inmate," he said.
Groner, a death penalty critic, said the problem remains that medical professionals are ethically barred from participating in executions. The dilemma will continue to plague the lethal injection process, he said.
"The bottom line is in any clinical setting, these type of drugs are always delivered by someone with advanced qualifications," he said.
Rep. Dennis Ross, a Lakeland Republican who was part of the commission, said he's comfortable with the continued use of the three-drug cocktail.
"I think perception is very important when you have people witnessing," he said.
He said he thought great strides were made in improving the execution process. But he said there was no way to know in advance whether they would prevent another botched execution.
"We won't know for sure until the execution takes place," he said.
Nathan Crabbe can be reached at 352-338-3176 or crabben@gville sun.com.
The changes include doubling the size of the death chamber and installing closed-circuit monitoring for execution team members to monitor the inmate's face and IV access points. In Diaz's execution, dislodged IVs caused lethal chemicals to seep into his flesh and take about 20 minutes longer than normal to kill him.
Lethal-injection experts such as Fordham University law professor Deborah Denno said changes were hastily made and fall short of preventing another botched execution.
"They have not even begun to approach what is acceptable," she said.
She said problems include continued ambiguity about the qualifications of execution team members.
"It's like the more specific they get, the more they get criticized, so they just keep everything vague," she said.
The death warrant comes at the same time that Florida Death Row inmate Ian Deco Lightbourne is challenging the lethal injection procedure. While that case is still being heard in a Marion County courtroom, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday scheduled hearings on the case for October.
Schwab's attorney, Mark Gruber, said the scheduling of the hearings suggested the state expects challenges will be resolved in the weeks before the execution. But he said he didn't expect the death warrant would be signed before that happens. "This warrant kind of took us by surprise," he said.
In a written statement, Crist said he was confident that the execution procedure was consistent with the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Florida's execution procedure is similar to the method used in 36 other states with lethal injection. Inmates are first injected with sodium pentothal to render them unconscious, followed by pancuronium bromide to paralyze the muscles. Potassium chloride is then injected to stop the heart.
While Crist accepted changes to the lethal injection process, he rejected suggestions to eliminate the second drug from the mix. Gainesville Circuit Judge Stan Morris, a member of the lethal injection commission, had questioned whether the drug masked whether inmates were awake and felt the final drug burn through their veins.
The American Veterinary Medical Association bans the use of the drug on euthanized animals for that reason. The drug's continued use shows the state wants to prevent involuntary movements rather than ensure inmates don't feel pain, said Dr. Jonathan Groner of the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
"The only purpose of the paralytic drug is for the audience and not for the inmate," he said.
Groner, a death penalty critic, said the problem remains that medical professionals are ethically barred from participating in executions. The dilemma will continue to plague the lethal injection process, he said.
"The bottom line is in any clinical setting, these type of drugs are always delivered by someone with advanced qualifications," he said.
Rep. Dennis Ross, a Lakeland Republican who was part of the commission, said he's comfortable with the continued use of the three-drug cocktail.
"I think perception is very important when you have people witnessing," he said.
He said he thought great strides were made in improving the execution process. But he said there was no way to know in advance whether they would prevent another botched execution.
"We won't know for sure until the execution takes place," he said.
Nathan Crabbe can be reached at 352-338-3176 or crabben@gville sun.com.
Lethal-injection experts such as Fordham University law professor Deborah Denno said changes were hastily made and fall short of preventing another botched execution.
"They have not even begun to approach what is acceptable," she said.
She said problems include continued ambiguity about the qualifications of execution team members.
"It's like the more specific they get, the more they get criticized, so they just keep everything vague," she said.
The death warrant comes at the same time that Florida Death Row inmate Ian Deco Lightbourne is challenging the lethal injection procedure. While that case is still being heard in a Marion County courtroom, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday scheduled hearings on the case for October.
Schwab's attorney, Mark Gruber, said the scheduling of the hearings suggested the state expects challenges will be resolved in the weeks before the execution. But he said he didn't expect the death warrant would be signed before that happens. "This warrant kind of took us by surprise," he said.
In a written statement, Crist said he was confident that the execution procedure was consistent with the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Florida's execution procedure is similar to the method used in 36 other states with lethal injection. Inmates are first injected with sodium pentothal to render them unconscious, followed by pancuronium bromide to paralyze the muscles. Potassium chloride is then injected to stop the heart.
While Crist accepted changes to the lethal injection process, he rejected suggestions to eliminate the second drug from the mix. Gainesville Circuit Judge Stan Morris, a member of the lethal injection commission, had questioned whether the drug masked whether inmates were awake and felt the final drug burn through their veins.
The American Veterinary Medical Association bans the use of the drug on euthanized animals for that reason. The drug's continued use shows the state wants to prevent involuntary movements rather than ensure inmates don't feel pain, said Dr. Jonathan Groner of the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
"The only purpose of the paralytic drug is for the audience and not for the inmate," he said.
Groner, a death penalty critic, said the problem remains that medical professionals are ethically barred from participating in executions. The dilemma will continue to plague the lethal injection process, he said.
"The bottom line is in any clinical setting, these type of drugs are always delivered by someone with advanced qualifications," he said.
Rep. Dennis Ross, a Lakeland Republican who was part of the commission, said he's comfortable with the continued use of the three-drug cocktail.
"I think perception is very important when you have people witnessing," he said.
He said he thought great strides were made in improving the execution process. But he said there was no way to know in advance whether they would prevent another botched execution.
"We won't know for sure until the execution takes place," he said.
Nathan Crabbe can be reached at 352-338-3176 or crabben@gville sun.com.
The changes include doubling the size of the death chamber and installing closed-circuit monitoring for execution team members to monitor the inmate's face and IV access points. In Diaz's execution, dislodged IVs caused lethal chemicals to seep into his flesh and take about 20 minutes longer than normal to kill him.
Lethal-injection experts such as Fordham University law professor Deborah Denno said changes were hastily made and fall short of preventing another botched execution.
"They have not even begun to approach what is acceptable," she said.
She said problems include continued ambiguity about the qualifications of execution team members.
"It's like the more specific they get, the more they get criticized, so they just keep everything vague," she said.
The death warrant comes at the same time that Florida Death Row inmate Ian Deco Lightbourne is challenging the lethal injection procedure. While that case is still being heard in a Marion County courtroom, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday scheduled hearings on the case for October.
Schwab's attorney, Mark Gruber, said the scheduling of the hearings suggested the state expects challenges will be resolved in the weeks before the execution. But he said he didn't expect the death warrant would be signed before that happens. "This warrant kind of took us by surprise," he said.
In a written statement, Crist said he was confident that the execution procedure was consistent with the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Florida's execution procedure is similar to the method used in 36 other states with lethal injection. Inmates are first injected with sodium pentothal to render them unconscious, followed by pancuronium bromide to paralyze the muscles. Potassium chloride is then injected to stop the heart.
While Crist accepted changes to the lethal injection process, he rejected suggestions to eliminate the second drug from the mix. Gainesville Circuit Judge Stan Morris, a member of the lethal injection commission, had questioned whether the drug masked whether inmates were awake and felt the final drug burn through their veins.
The American Veterinary Medical Association bans the use of the drug on euthanized animals for that reason. The drug's continued use shows the state wants to prevent involuntary movements rather than ensure inmates don't feel pain, said Dr. Jonathan Groner of the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
"The only purpose of the paralytic drug is for the audience and not for the inmate," he said.
Groner, a death penalty critic, said the problem remains that medical professionals are ethically barred from participating in executions. The dilemma will continue to plague the lethal injection process, he said.
"The bottom line is in any clinical setting, these type of drugs are always delivered by someone with advanced qualifications," he said.
Rep. Dennis Ross, a Lakeland Republican who was part of the commission, said he's comfortable with the continued use of the three-drug cocktail.
"I think perception is very important when you have people witnessing," he said.
He said he thought great strides were made in improving the execution process. But he said there was no way to know in advance whether they would prevent another botched execution.
"We won't know for sure until the execution takes place," he said.
Nathan Crabbe can be reached at 352-338-3176 or crabben@gville sun.com.
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