Florida to execute man using untried drug for lethal injection

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Florida to execute man using untried drug for lethal injection

By Bill Cotterell
TALLAHASSEE, Florida | Mon Oct 14, 2013 6:24pm EDT

(Reuters) - An execution scheduled in Florida on Tuesday will be the first using the drug midazolam hydrochloride despite concerns it might not work as promised and could inflict cruel and unusual punishment on a death row inmate.

Midazolam, typically used by doctors for sedation, will be the first of three drugs pumped into William Happ as part of a lethal injection cocktail designed to induce unconsciousness, paralysis and death by cardiac arrest.

The first of the drugs administered as part of the lethal injection "protocol" in Florida has long been the barbiturate pentobarbital. But Florida, and other death penalty states that use a trio of drugs as part of their injection procedures, have been running out of pentobarbital since its manufacturer clamped a ban on its use in future executions.

The 51-year-old Happ, who has abandoned his appeals and said he is ready to die, was condemned for the 1986 abduction, rape and murder of Angie Crowley, whose body was found on a canal bank near Crystal River in central Florida.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/14/us-usa-florida-execution-idUSBRE99D0QE20131014

[XemaSab]

1. Why not use confiscated heroin?

Painless, effective, and free.

[mwrguy]

10. He might get addicted.

Can't have that.

[Decaffeinated]

2. 1986... Good lord...

It's a shame that this woman and her family had to wait 27 years for justice.

"Crowley, 21, never arrived at her destination. She prearranged with her friend to meet at a convenience store in Crystal River so she could be guided the last few miles of the trip. Crowley found the store, but before she could get to the pay phone, William Happ smashed her car window, kidnapped her. He beat her, raped her and strangled her with her pants before throwing her body into a canal."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2458433/William-Happ-executed-1986-rape-murder-Angie-Crowley.html

[Ed Suspicious]

5. You call capital punishment justice?

[Decaffeinated]

7. It would have been 20 something years ago...

Now it's just the last of the band-aid being slowly ripped off.

[gopiscrap]

3. One more reason why I am totally against capital punishment

[boomer55]

4. knock him with known drugs, put him on plane, fly over ocean use auto door to randomly open

splash.... nature completes the circle of life.

no argument over untried drug

[Ed Suspicious]

6. More low post count posters extolling the virtues of killing by the state. Nice.

[FarCenter]

8. midazolam hydrochloride works --- it is used as an anesthetic for colonoscopies

Since you don't remember the colonoscopy, I doubt the executed criminal would experience the subsequent injections that stop his heart and breathing.

Propofol also works -- it was successfully tested on Michael Jackson.

[kestrel91316]

9. Midazolam is like diazepam, only more so. We had to use it for a few years

in my practice when diazepam injection went on indefinite manufacturer's backorder. Had to recalculate dosages and learn its particular way of affecting my patients, but it was an excellent drug.

It's made for the human market. It is NOT untested or untried, lol.

[MFM008]

11. maybe

they should just try draino..... I am against state or fed ordered exectutions. Hand a family member a bat and let them take care of it.

[cynatnite]

13. Yeah, because that always ends well...

[davidn3600]

12. This is typically used for IV sedation in dentistry

It's frequently used for things like impacted wisdom tooth removal and such.

Its also sometimes used for minor medical procedures such as colonoscopies.

It's conscious sedation. It doesn't really put you completely out...its more like a twilight sleep. But it has an amnesia effect so you remember little to nothing of what happened when you come out of it. That's why it's good for people who have dental phobias and extreme fear of the dentist.

The issue here though is that there is a reason its only used for minor procedures like that...it's not a strong general anesthetic. People have been known to remember things or "come to" during procedures.