“Kenny just began to gasp for air repeatedly and the execution took about 25 minutes total.”
Pretty compassionate way to kill a person.
Once again, the Law in the south is brutal.
“Kenny just began to gasp for air repeatedly and the execution took about 25 minutes total.”
Pretty compassionate way to kill a person.
Once again, the Law in the south is brutal.
The difference between a model and reality is often in the implementation. Clearly, this person had access to oxygen for 22 minutes after the execution started, which is a problem if you goal is to suffocate someone quickly. He was also suffering, which is possibly an indication that CO2 levels were too high, which would be another problem. It could also just be due to stress, which is unavoidable in an execution. Seizures near the time of death are also likely.
Ultimately, inert gas asphyxiation, if done correctly, is still probably the most humane means of execution, except for a large caliber bullet to the brain, which is very messy.
These issues are all secondary to the question of whether capital punishment should ever be used. I’ve stated my beliefs on that before. In short, it should never be done but if you’re going to do it, it should be as humane as possible.
Captive bolt would be just as lethal as a bullet, and less messy. They’re designed not to make a mess ever since BSE, you don’t want to get brains everywhere. Yes that sounds grisly but I run a ranch, it’s something we have to talk about.
They could use a custom designed unit, but if the ones we use can drop a full grown bull, I suspect they would be adequate.
A small and fast bullet like .22 Magnum is also extremely effective and leaves no mark except a tiny clean hole, at least on livestock. But they have different skulls from humans. I’m sure those ballistic gel guys could come up with the optimum bullet and load.
I don’t know all the details, but more than a few people have survived head shots with small caliber rounds. Captive bolt would certainly be as effective and pretty painless, which really should be the goal if you’re considering capital punishment.
Definitely small calibers have terminal performance issues. They lose energy fast at long range, barrel length and weight are critical, quality control is just plain not as good on cheap rimfire ammo. We had a guy in to butcher a batch of lambs for us awhile ago and his .22 misfired over 5 times…
That’s why .22 is banned for hunting in most places because while it can easily be deadly, it’s not reliably so.
When we do it ourselves I use .22 Magnum even on small animals like lambs because it’s MUCH more deadly, it’s never failed me.
There are plenty of humane ways to kill when drugs/sedatives are involved.
In my opinion, the real issue is people won’t be satisfied with someone feeling high or relaxed or whatever before dying (if their death was supposed to be a punishment). But those same people also don’t want suffering…? It’s very confusing to me.
Yeah, it’s a tough call to determine if this is due to incompetence or malice. A lot of people seem to relish the suffering.