Is lethal injection more compassion than murderers deserve?

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A little before 7:00 p.m. tonight, Texas death row inmate Reginald Blanton will be escorted from a holding cell in the East Building of the Huntsville Unit, and taken into a room and strapped to a gurney, where he will be given a combination of drugs which will put him to sleep and then stop his heart.

Of course, before this execution by lethal injection takes place, Blanton will be allowed a last meal of his choosing and allowed to make a final statement which will be given to the press.

While a last meal and a final statement may not seem like much to a man only minutes away from his execution, they are certainly freedoms which Blanton’s victim was denied.

In 2001, a Bexar County jury convicted Blanton for the murder of his friend, Carlos Garza, 22.

On April 4, 2000, Blanton kicked down the door to Garza’s apartment, then shot Garza twice in the head, stealing two gold necklaces.

Blanton was later seen on surveillance video selling the jewelry at a local pawn shop for $79.

In June 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that death row inmates could legally challenge the method in which states carry-out lethal injections. In Hill v. Florida, the inmate claimed that the three drugs used in the execution could possibly cause pain.

The three drug process includes an anesthetic which induces unconsciousness, another which causes paralysis, and the last which stops the heart.

Since the Hill v. Florida decision, there have been dozens of suits filed across the country by death row inmates, alleging that their pending lethal injection may possibly cause them undue pain.

On September 26,2006, a federal judge in San Jose, CA began hearing the case brought forth by convicted murderer Michael Morales. Morales and his lawyers contended that the lethal injection which he was sentenced to receive is actually 'cruel and unusual punishment.' He was convicted of the 1981 murder of Terri Lynn Winchell of Lodi, CA.

Morales killed the teenaged girl by caving in her skull with a claw hammer.

Morales' attorney Ginger Adams expressed her concerns over the treatment of her murderous client by saying: "The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is institutionally unable to ensure that executions are performed humanely."

One person who was not at all concerned with the humane treatment of Morales, is his victim's mom. Barbara Christian said in a written statement: "As a mother, I don't care what kind of pain Morales feels because of what he did to my daughter. He showed no mercy when she cried out for it. He deserves no mercy."

However, by killing Morales through the method of lethal injection, he is likely being shown unwarranted mercy. It is a very serene and apparently rather painless end to the rampage that was his life. In fact, very similar drugs in very similar combinations are used in cases of medically assisted suicide in Oregon, where the practice is legal.

Other methods of killing convicted murderers which have been used in the United States include the firing squad, hanging, the electric chair, and the gas chamber. The method of electrocution can be particularly gruesome. Virginia offers death row inmates the choice of either the electric chair or lethal injection, if the condemned refuses to make a choice, he is then given lethal injection. Since 1995 only one inmate executed in Virginia has chosen the chair.

*Reporter’s note: Executive director Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center ( a group opposed to the use of capital punishment) recently said: "The lethal injection process is unnecessarily painful and risky and that is an Eighth Amendment violation against cruel and unusual punishment."

You see, liberals believe that even the most brutal and bloodthirsty amongst us should never feel any pain, not even a fraction of that which they inflicted upon their innocent victims. As talk show host Michael Savage claims: "Liberalism is a mental disorder!"...It must be, it is the only way to explain how anyone could spend their energy attempting to secure a pain-free and compassionate end to the life of a rapist-murderer!

The method of lethal injection is in fact much too easy for these monsters. In my opinion, they should either be killed in the same method in which they murdered their victims, or at least given a an equally painful and gruesome death such as electrocution or perhaps by being drawn and quartered!

Why is it wrong to inflict pain upon our most savage criminals?...There is nothing wrong with a society seeking and gaining some measure of revenge on those who have committed the ultimate crime against our fellow citizens.

It is also an abomination that the same humane method of ending the lives of our beloved and faithful pets is extended to the vermin on death row. Euthanasia for an animal is a decision which is made out of love and compassion for our devoted four-legged friends. Despite what any ACLU lawyer may contend, it is much too good for the human predators now dwelling in this nation's prison system.

Brutal crimes call for brutal consequences...Not sedatives!

 

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