Autopsy suggests South Carolina botched firing squad execution
Autopsy suggests South Carolina botched firing squad execution
Records obtained by the Guardian indicate shooters did not hit Mikal Mahdi according to protocol, which lawyers say caused prolonged suffering
We know it takes very little fent to stop the heart and breathing. Why not just inject 10x that and have the person slip off in opium land? Seems straightforward and foolproof.
The article stated that there were three shooters, and only two gunshot wounds. I seem to recall from the early '70s that firing squads of five people or so always secretly loaded one weapon with blanks. That way the shooters could all convince themselves that they were the one who had the blank if their conscience bothered them. Maybe these guys did the same thing but with only three shooters...
I think if you can't find someone with the fortitude to put a hole in the victim's brain stem at muzzle contact range (let's ask the people who pushed for this punishment, for example), and you have to go through all this procedure to alleviate "guilty consciences", maybe the whole idea isn't so great?
While I agree with the conclusion, making a moral judgment based on a random persons guilty conscience isn't very reliable.
We should switch to execution by strangling to death by hand. The judge has to conduct the execution.
Which is dumb because you can clearly tell whether you had the blank or not from the amount of recoil.
That is the protocol in Utah for firing squads, but not South Carolina
As for why Mahdi's body showed two wounds from the execution rather than three, a doctor noted in the comments section on the autopsy commissioned by the state that "it is believed that" two bullets went through one wound. Whereas in Utah, not all members of the state's firing squad shoot live bullets, in South Carolina, the rifles of all three shooters were supposed to be loaded with ammunition.
The two wounds on Mahdi's body were described in the autopsy as being almost exactly the same size. Pathologists who reviewed the report expressed doubt that two bullets went through precisely the same, small hole.
"I think the odds of that are pretty minuscule," Wigren said
Maybe their firing squad line up behind one another?
Three shooters just isn't enough.
This shows a number of things. First, how barbarian and backwards death penalty is. Second, Americans are not even good at shooting.
''endured pain beyond the “10-to-15 second” window of consciousness that was expected.''
So up to 15 seconds of agony is expected. Fucking barbarians.
And he suffered for 80.
If only they were told it was a bad idea of a multitude of reasons.
They don't care. Suffering is the point. They don't want to understand how both revoking due process and allowing cruel and unusual punishment will eventually bite them in the ass.
I am against the death penalty, it's a barbaric practice and not something a civilized country should do.
But for fucks sake, when you decide to have it, why not just heavily sedate someone first, with the help of an anesthesiologist or another medical professional?
Because no medical professional will do it.
It goes completely against the entire pride and ethics of that profession.
You don't put yourself through all the education required to become a physician, to then help kill people against their will.The cruelty is the point with these people.
Revenge has to be the only point, considering that it is genuinely cheaper to imprison people for life than it is to go through death row appeals and execute them, even before you include the cost of botching executions and the lawsuits that stem from that. South Carolina choosing firing squad in this case was not only because its harder to botch, but because its virtually impossible to buy the drugs for lethal injection anymore. Even when available, they cost a fortune for the state to procure
The death penalty is just to sate barbaric revenge instincts and nothing else. There is no logical point to it
with the help of an anesthesiologist or another medical professional
Usually medical professionals aren't involved because it's a violation of their oath to do no harm. So then these sadistic bumblefucks just do whatever they want.
Honestly, with the amount of fent over there if I was on death row I'd rather get some smuggled in than risk a botched execution. No anesthesiologist needed.
Officials placed a hood over Mahdi’s head before the staff fired, according to an Associated Press reporter, who was a witness. As shots were fired, Mahdi cried out and his arms flexed, and after roughly 45 seconds, he groaned twice, the AP said. His breaths continued for around 80 seconds, then a doctor examined him for a minute. He was declared dead roughly four minutes after the shots.
They're doing firing squad executions still?
Jesus Christ.
Recently some states have brought it back specifically. No points for guessing which way those states lean politically.
Lol, Americans can’t even use their guns right
Is there any good reason why the rifles aren't firmly fixed to a stand so they point directly at the heart, with the shooters only pulling the trigger?
Even with something like that, going for the heart is just prolonging suffering, which is usually the point
And in other news, South Carolina introduces bill for executions by dynamite to begin later this year.
This is how I want to go.
Michael Douglas in Falling Down: "Take shooting lessons, asshole."
Why were they not aiming for the head? 2 headshots would have put him out of his misery instantly even if the 3rd person missed.
It's either because they want to pretend it's a civilized execution method by making it look better or because they want to keep the option of doing it wrong and making the victim suffer longer.
Shit like this is going to be used as valid justification for nuking the colonies off the face of the Earth and I for one think that's great
I'm pretty sure people sentenced to death get to choose their execution method, so this guy chose firing squad?
The death penalty is barbaric no matter how it's done, but if the state was going to put me to death then bleeding out in five minutes by firing squad seems a lot better than drug-induced tortured breathing for an hour.
Wouldn't everyone just choose old age or snu snu?
The article mentions only noticing 2 hits on the body. My understanding is that there is always 1 blank in a firing squad execution, to leave some amount of doubt in the minds of those pulling the trigger. I would point to that as to why there were only 2 bullet holes, but I would also expect everyone, from those quoted to the journalist writing the article, to know that, so now I have to second guess whether or not that is the case after all.
Edit: here
I would ask for any kind of source on that, instead of just repeating it like an urban legend. That's probably why they didn't include it in the article.
A'ight. Here you go.