Unfortunately the Governor's good intentions is more words.

Unfortunately the Governor's good intentions is more words.

If the procedure used to murder is flawed, as much as Florida's is, reliance on how others states do their killing as just as flawed, and this merely compounds the issue. Eleven of the 37 other states that use this methods have challenges to the method, and a string of states, including but not limited to New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Kansas, and South Dakota have never executed anyone this way, and others have too few execution to know if there protocols work or not. A workable procedure cannot be learned by casual telephone conversations; read textbook of toxicology--- perish the thought! An execution is not a new recipe for a cake.

The attitude of the Department of Corrections --- "I don't care, as long as the guy dies."-- is at fault. The inmate is not "dead man walking" but a human being until s/he takes the last breathe, and treating him/her as walking dead only intensifies the mental anguish. in both the prisoner and the Goons attending to his murder. As David Lawson screamed from inside the gas chamber, "I AM HUMAN! ".

Either the DOC makes every effort to kill with kindness and dignity, or admit that the killing machine is brutal, pain full and undignified, and say "so what". The procedure is designed for Hollywood, but it got lost near Kansas City.

Governor, make your study meaningful, not a whitewash. An honest investigation will reveal that the state' s killing machine cannot be fixed without the unavailable medical input, and the state should bring back the hangman; Florida had trouble with its electric chair also. The mind-set is "I'll keep state murder come hell and high water; if the facts say divorce it, I won't look at the facts! " Divorce that unhappy marriage with the death penalty. You cannot do it "right" so either admit it, or abolish it.

G M Larkin MD DABFM FACFEI
Forensic Pathologist
Charlotte NC USA