Jasmin Hilmer’s “The End”, which was one of the artworks in Texas Moratorium Network’s art show “Justice for All?: Artists Reflect on the Death Penalty” has been selected as the cover art for an upcoming book on the death penalty. Congratulations Jasmin!

The book, by Alan W. Clarke and Laurelyn Whitt, is titled “The Bitter Fruit of American Justice: International and Domestic Resistance to the Death Penalty.” It argues that executions in the U.S. have far-reaching effects on relationships between the U.S. and other countries worldwide. It should come out in Fall 2007.

Jasmin’s CV

Here is an audio of Alan Clarke speaking on international death penalty law.

The drugs used to execute prisoners in the United States sometimes fail to work as planned, causing slow and painful deaths that probably violate constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment, a new medical review of dozens of executions concludes, according to an AP story.

The report concludes “our findings suggest that current lethal injection protocols may not reliably effect death through the mechanisms intended, indicating a failure of design and implementation. If thiopental and potassium chloride fail to cause anesthesia and cardiac arrest, potentially aware inmates could die through pancuronium-induced asphyxiation. Thus the conventional view of lethal injection leading to an invariably peaceful and painless death is questionable.”

Below are some executions in Texas that had problems.

1. March 13, 1985. Texas. Stephen Peter Morin. Lethal Injection. Because of Morin’s history of drug abuse, the execution technicians were forced to probe both of Morin’s arms and one of his legs with needles for nearly 45 minutes before they found a suitable vein.

2. August 20, 1986. Texas. Randy Woolls. Lethal Injection. A drug addict, Woolls helped the execution technicians find a useable vein for the execution.

3. June 24, 1987. Texas. Elliot Rod Johnson. Lethal Injection. Because of collapsed veins, it took nearly an hour to complete the execution.

4. December 13, 1988. Texas. Raymond Landry. Lethal Injection. Pronounced dead 40 minutes after being strapped to the execution gurney and 24 minutes after the drugs first started flowing into his arms. Two minutes after the drugs were administered, the syringe came out of Landry’s vein, spraying the deadly chemicals across the room toward witnesses. The curtain separating the witnesses from the inmate was then pulled, and not reopened for fourteen minutes while the execution team reinserted the catheter into the vein. Witnesses reported “at least one groan.” A spokesman for the Texas Department of Correction, Charles Brown (sic), said, “There was something of a delay in the execution because of what officials called a ‘blowout.’ The syringe came out of the vein, and the warden ordered the (execution) team to reinsert the catheter into the vein.”

5. May 24, 1989. Texas. Stephen McCoy. Lethal Injection. He had such a violent physical reaction to the drugs (heaving chest, gasping, choking, back arching off the gurney, etc.) that one of the witnesses (male) fainted, crashing into and knocking over another witness. Houston attorney Karen Zellars, who represented McCoy and witnessed the execution, thought the fainting would catalyze a chain reaction. The Texas Attorney General admitted the inmate “seemed to have a somewhat stronger reaction,” adding “The drugs might have been administered in a heavier dose or more rapidly.”

6. April 23, 1992. Texas. Billy Wayne White. Lethal Injection. White was pronounced dead some 47 minutes after being strapped to the execution gurney. The delay was caused by difficulty finding a vein; White had a long history of heroin abuse. During the execution, White attempted to assist the authorities in finding a suitable vein.

7. May 7, 1992. Texas. Justin Lee May. Lethal Injection. May had an unusually violent reaction to the lethal drugs. According to one reporter who witnessed the execution, May “gasped, coughed and reared against his heavy leather restraints, coughing once again before his body froze …” Associated Press reporter Michael Graczyk wrote, “Compared to other recent executions in Texas, May’s reaction was more violent. He went into a coughing spasm, groaned and gasped, lifted his head from the death chamber gurney and would have arched his back if he had not been belted down. After he stopped breathing, his eyes and mouth remained open.”

8. April 23, 1998. Texas. Joseph Cannon. Lethal Injection. It took two attempts to complete the execution. After making his final statement, the execution process began. A vein in Cannon’s arm collapsed and the needle popped out. Seeing this, Cannon lay back, closed his eyes, and exclaimed to the witnesses, “It’s come undone.” Officials then pulled a curtain to block the view of the witnesses, reopening it fifteen minutes later when a weeping Cannon made a second final statement and the execution process resumed.

9. August 26, 1998. Texas. Genaro Ruiz Camacho. Lethal Injection. The execution was delayed approximately two hours due, in part, to problems finding suitable veins in Camacho’s arms.

10. December 7, 2000. Texas. Claude Jones. Jones was a former intravenous drug abuser. His execution was delayed 30 minutes while the execution “team” struggled to insert an IV into a vein. He had been a longtime intravenous drug user. One member of the execution team commented, “They had to stick him about five times. They finally put it in his leg.” Wrote Jim Willett, the warden of the Walls Unit and the man responsible for conducting the execution, “The medical team could not find a vein. Now I was really beginning to worry. If you can’t stick a vein then a cut-down has to be performed. I have never seen one and would just as soon go through the rest of my career the same way. Just when I was really getting worried, one of the medical people hit a vein in the left leg. Inside calf to be exact. The executioner had warned me not to panic as it was going to take a while to get the fluids in the body of the inmate tonight because he was going to push the drugs through very slowly. Finally, the drug took effect and Jones took his last breath.”

Re: “Death no more – We cannot support a system that is both imperfect and irreversible,” April 15 Editorials.

I applaud The Dallas Morning News. As the editorial points out, the death penalty is “both imperfect and irreversible,” which has led to wrenching cases of innocent people being released from death row and the strong possibility that innocent men have been put to death.

Years of study have shown that the death penalty does little to deter crime and that defendants’ likelihood of being sentenced to death depends heavily on whether they are rich or poor and the race of their victims.

Fortunately, there also have been signs of progress. Governors who oppose capital punishment have been elected in several states, including Virginia and Maryland. Executions in 2006 were at a 10-year low. And legislators have mounted serious efforts to abolish the death penalty in Maryland, Montana, Nebraska and New Mexico.

Those actions and your call to abolish the death penalty are signs that we are getting closer to a time when we can end capital punishment and restore some measure of fairness and integrity to our criminal justice system.

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., Washington

The Campaign to End the Death Penalty is hosting a happy hour for Rodney Reed tomorrow, Monday, April 23, at 7:00pm at Double Dave’s, on Duval near the intersection of Duval and San Jacinto on the north side of the UT campus.

Rodney Reed is an innocent man on Texas’ death row. He was wrongly convicted in Bastrop County of the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites. The pattern of police and prosecutorial misconduct,existing physical evidence not heard at trial, and the overall racist tone of Rodney’s trial cast strong doubt on Rodney’s guilt. CEDP is working together right now with Rodney’s family, Texas death penalty abolition groups, and other community organizations to call for a new trial for Rodney Reed at which all the evidence of his innocence can be presented. You can learn more and sign a petition calling for a new trial at www.freerodneyreed.org.

Roderick Reed, one of Rodney’s brothers, and Bryce Benjet, one of Rodney’s attorneys, will be there to discuss the case, Rodney’s innocence, and how the public can help win justice for Rodney Reed. Please join us for this important, informative, and fun event! Beer, pizza, and other refreshments will be available.

Stefanie Collins
For more information, email stfcollins@yahoogroups.com or call 512-784-8550.

Justice for Rodney Reed — an innocent man on Texas’ death row
www.freerodneyreed.org

On Wednesday April 25th All Life Is Precious Ministries will hold a Special Shout Out Show for Ryan Dickson who is scheduled to be executed on Thursday April 26th.
Ryans Special Shout Out Show will start at 7pm central standard time on Wednesday.

You are able to send in email messages for Ryan to the following address: alp@alllifeisprecious.org or you may call in and go live on the air by dialing 936-327-5160.
Remember, unlike our Sunday Shout Shows we are not able to do pre-recorded messages. Please call in live or send an email message to Ryan.

For email messages, please put Ryan Dickson and special shout out show in the subject line.

I personally cannot imagine what Ryan Dickson will be thinking the night before he is scheduled to be executed, but what I do know is we can all help Ryan by sending him messages of encouragement and support.

Let’s all come together and support Ryan by letting him know he is not alone!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact myself (Danielle) or All Life Is Precious Ministries.

Click the “All Life is Precious Ministries” graphic above to launch the web radio. The Shout Out Show for the inmates of Texas Death Row, and General Population, is broadcast live every Sunday afternoon from 1:00-6:00 pm CST.

For more information or to make a donation to ensure this broadcast is continued please visit:

All Life is Precious Ministries Website