After watching the Bombing coverage, I can only hope McVeigh was Wide Awake through the whole thing......

"LONDON - American researchers have called for a halt to lethal injection, the most common method of capital punishment in the United States, because it is not always a humane and painless way to die.
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Some executed prisoners may have suffered unnecessarily because they had not been sedated properly, they said.

The current way inmates are given lethal injections does not even meet veterinary standards for putting down animals, they added.

The research was carried out by Leonidas Koniaris of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and colleagues.

“Failures in protocol design, implementation, monitoring and review might have led to unnecessary suffering of at least some of those executed,” Koniaris said in a study published in The Lancet medical journal.

“Therefore, to prevent unnecessary cruelty and suffering, cessation and public review of lethal injections is warranted.”

Anesthesia is given during a lethal injection to minimize suffering. Without it the prisoner would suffocate and experience horrible pain, according to Koniaris.

'Fully aware' during execution
But in their analysis of protocols followed during lethal injections in Texas and Virginia, where 45 percent of executions in the United States are conducted, they found there was no monitoring of the anesthesia.

Emergency medical technicians who administered the drugs had no training in anesthesia and there were no reviews after the executions.

When the researchers examined data from autopsies done following 49 executions in Arizona, Georgia and North and South Carolina, they found concentrations of the drug in the blood in 43 cases were lower than that needed for surgery.

Twenty-one prisoners had drug levels that were consistent with awareness.

“We suggest that it is possible that some of these inmates were fully aware during their executions,” said Koniaris.

An editorial in the journal said if the inmates were awake it would have been a cruel way to die because they would have been unable to move or breathe while potassium burned through their veins.

“Capital punishment is not only an atrocity, but also a stain on the record of the world’s most powerful democracy,” it said.

Since 1976, lethal injection had been used in 788 of the 956 executions in the United States, according to The Lancet.

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" You've Been Thunder Struck ! "

All I can say is the perpitraitor did not kill painlessly so, they should not die painlessly.

"If it's not cruel and/or unusual, it's not really punishment, is it?"

I would have to agree with mranderson on this one. If they were convicted of murder that person they killed dies in pain should I think the convict should die in pain as well. I think that is what is wrong with our prison system we are too easy on those people. They did a bad deed they need to be punished or banned. Then maybe the crimmanls will think before they act.

Actually, I think the inmate that is getting the lethal injection is getting off easy. Although many would say this is crual and unusual punishment, I say that they should put murderers to death the same way they killed their victim. I guarantee you, this would deter others from making the same mistake.

In my opinion, I think instead of lethal injection they should have just let the familys have them. He deserved to die in a manor that was just as painful if not more so than what he did to all the victims.

I would be willing to bet if every resident of this country was to be asked, they would agree with the quoted statement. With that in mind, a constitional amendment would be forced to allow for FAIR executions.

Life imprisonment is a far worse punishment than the death penalty. Especially when the convict is put away at a young age.

However. It costs less to execute them, and they will not be a repeat offender. With life, we take the chance of repeat offenders.

When I say "life imprisonment" I mean life imprisonment, not 25 years.

I'd love to see the evidence you have for it being cheaper to execute than hold people in prison for life. Studies done by numerous states have shown exactly the opposite to be true.

Go to deathpenaltyinfo org and click on 'costs' under the 'issues' menu for that information. I'd post the address but my post count isn't high enough to allow that, apparently.

I never said it was "cheaper." I said it cost less. Just how much do you think it costs tp house an inmate for what you would consider life? It probably costs less than $1,000 to pump those narcotics.

I do not need evidence to know the difference between feeding and clothing a killer vs. executing him or her.

The costs are not less. There is more to cost than just the expense of the drugs pumped into the arm of a death row inmate. How about a decade of legal costs that do not arise in life imprisonment cases? The difference in cost is remarkable. Yes, it seems counter-intuitive that putting someone to death is more costly than putting them in prison for life, but ignoring evidence of this fact isn't going to change anything.

I am not the smartest cookie in the jar, but when I hear that someone is getting life, shouldn't that mean for the rest of their lives....without parole? I hear too many people that get life, yet years later, they manage to get paroled. I don't have a whole lot of faith in our judicial system. Too many criminals get off too easy.

I think lethal injection is the easy way out, so I don't agree with te artier of this article at all. Personally, I would've been in favor of letting the victims on April 19th kick McVeigh in between the legs until he died. What McVeigh did on April 19th was cruel. Why should he get off easy?

Not sure why they were wanting to give Nichols the lethal injection. Personally, I think suffering in prison the rest of his life is worse punishment. McVeigh got off easier than Nichols.