Tuesday, December 8, 2009

guinea pig

Today at 11:47AM at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, Kenneth Biros was the first person ever to die by a one-drug method of lethal injection. (& I'd like to say, on the behalf of all Ohio taxpayers, you're welcome.)

Unfortunately, that drug was not a hot chunk of lead administered behind the ear, but hey - a dead monster is still a dead monster, right?

22 comments:

Mike W. said...

It's a shame really. Lead at ~1100fps would be significantly cheaper, even at post-Obama prices.

Of course when does the government ever do something in a cheap / efficient manner?

Bob S. said...

It doesn't matter to me either, dead is dead.

Robert Langham said...

They should give the killers to the victims family.

Kristophr said...

Di-Hydrogen Monoxide?

Seriously ... if they were all that concerned about giving the convicted a humane death, just fill a chamber with C02 and leave him there for a few hours.

Old NFO said...

Works, but I'm STILL a fan of them dying the same way they killed... Knife=knife, gun=gun, fire=fire, etc...

Rick R. said...

Bullets are NOT cheaper.

You people keep forgetting the cleanup costs, afterwards. Biohazard and all that. . . {grin}

Jeffrey Quick said...

At least he had a chance to repent and get right with the Lord. Not that that has any bearing on what we should do with him here.

Heath J said...

I'm still waiting for them to apply "Cruel and unusual" to the same standards as the timeframe it was written..

Anonymous said...

One down, how many to go?

Jim

Anonymous said...

Did you hear the complaining about the procedure, because it was "experimental" but testing it would have resulted in the death of a person, so testing is "unethical". Catch-22.

rickn8or said...

The obscene part of this was that it took 18 years from sentencing to execution.

But now, we have proof that it works.

Bullbore said...

CO2 would hardly be humane. Your body elicits a panic response to CO2, that is why CO@ poisoning isn't a silent killer like CO poisoning. While these folks might not deserve a humane death, it is wrong to suggest CO2 is humane.

I favor the method of China; a bullet to the head and a bill for the cost to the killer's next of kin.

Schmidt said...

@injection
First one in the US...
There already is a saint who was martyred by a one-gramm phenol injection, straight into his heart.

As to , it CO wouldn't fly.

It has a unsavoury past, anyone with some grasp of history will surely know why.

Won't be used for the same reason USA won't kill people with a bullet to the back of the head.

High explosive is the way to go.
You can't feel death by them. If your head implodes faster than the nerves can transmit pain.. and as far as I know, plastic explosives are not particularily expensive.

ParatrooperJJ said...

Bullbore is correct. CO2 is not the best way to go, N2 would be much better.

HankH said...

Breda,

I never thought of my 230 grain Golden Sabers as a drug, but now that I have that firmly implanted in my intoxicated brain, I'm off to Cabelas to score some dope, because I NEED recoil therapy ;)

HankH

Kristophr said...

Cool. N2 it is then.

Cheap as well ... any welding shop has cylinders of it all over as a cheap TIG weld substitute for Argon.

Although I still like the idea of using Di-Hydrogen Monoxide.

Hat Trick said...

@Kristopher

How would you administer Di-Hydrogen Monoxide for an execution?

An IV bolus to kill by cerebral edema? Would take way too long and be painful.

Immersion and inhalation? Might be considered cruel and unusual too.

Hecate said...

How come putting down a human criminal has to be so much more technically complicated than euthanatizing any other large mammal? Never understood that.

william the coroner said...

Hecate

I addressed that question on my blog. Basically, because it has to be quick, painless, work EVERY time, medical like (but no medically trained personnel may beinvolved). And even then, the anti death-penalty activists will find something to complain about. It is so difficult to make most jurisdictions say "F- it" and do something else.

William the Coroner

jimbob86 said...

"How would you administer Di-Hydrogen Monoxide for an execution?"

Inversion in a 55 gallon drum would work.

I favor a plumbous intracranial kinetic injection therapy, myself. Say, a 230 grain dose delivered @ 800 f/sec via a .45" bore tube to the medulla oblongata.... That "medical" enough?

Those opposed to the death penalty can not win the argument based on logic, so they attack the methods, making something so simple difficult enough that it is easier and cheaper to house these cretins forever than it is to kill them and be done with it. ....just another case to these idjits letting emotion triumph over reasoning, and ignoring the unintended consequenses.

Kristophr said...

Di-Hydrogen Monoxide is too cruel?

Fine. We will not subject him to di-hydrogen Monoxide. For about a week or so.

Ms. Pants said...

I figure we don't put cosmetics on fluffy bunnies, so we shouldn't test them on fluffy bunnies either. Why not use death row inmates for all those tests? That way, we can see how the chemicals will really react with the intended consumers. And if the scientists wanna mix up a few really painful batches of what-not to test on them, I'm not opposed to that either....