Death Row Inmate Likely To Die By Nitrogen Gas

Death Row Inmate Likely To Die By Nitrogen Gas






A death row inmate is likely to become the first American scheduled to die using nitrogen gas, even if he wins a case at the US Supreme Court.

Richard Glossip and two other prisoners are appealing against the use of a controversial lethal injection drug.

But even if the court rules in their favour, the state of Oklahoma is already making alternative plans to execute them.

The Supreme Court was told last week that Midazolam is not a powerful enough anaesthetic to render prisoners unconscious, before two other drugs are injected to kill them.

There have been several instances of prisoners taking longer than expected to die.

Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Centre, told Sky News: "You've got inmates who are conscious, you've got inmates who are gasping.

"One description is that an inmate was flopping around like a fish against the restraints.

"That's someone who is clearly experiencing high levels of pain and we know that the lethal drug is akin to being burned from the inside out."

That point was taken up by Justice Elena Kagan while questioning Oklahoma's Solicitor General in court.

"It's like being burned alive," Justice Kagan said.

"We've actually talked about being burned at the stake, and everybody agrees that that's cruel and unusual punishment.

"So suppose that we said, we're going to burn you at the stake, but before we do, we're going to use an anaesthetic of completely unknown properties and unknown effects.

"Maybe you won't feel it, maybe you will. We just can't tell. And you think that that would be okay?"

The nine justices who sit on America's highest court appear to be split on the issue. They will make a ruling in June and it's expected to be close.

But conservative justices like Samuel Alito are known to be firmly in favour of the death penalty, and appeared to object to this case even being heard.

"This Court has held that the death penalty is constitutional," Justice Alito said.

"Those who oppose the death penalty are free to try to persuade legislatures to abolish the death penalty. Some of those efforts have been successful.

"They're free to ask this court to overrule the death penalty.

"But until that occurs, is it appropriate for the judiciary to countenance what amounts to a guerrilla war against the death penalty which consists of efforts to make it impossible for the States to obtain drugs that could be used to carry out capital punishment with little, if any, pain?"

Oklahoma's Attorney General Scott Pruitt told reporters outside the court: "The state of Oklahoma, since the late 1970s, was the state that gave birth, gave life to the lethal injection process, as the most humane way to carry out capital punishment."

Although Glossip was the main petitioner who was listed in the court documents, his name was only heard when the case was introduced.

He was never mentioned again. He spoke to Sky News from death row in Oklahoma State Penitentiary.

"If it's so humane then you have to explain what happened to the guy in Ohio who suffered.

"You have to explain what happened to the guy in Arizona who suffered for two hours.

"You have to account for (Clayton) Lockett here in Oklahoma who suffered for 45 minutes. If it's so humane why did those people suffer for so long."

Last month the Governor of Oklahoma signed a law which allows death row prisoners to be executed with nitrogen gas if lethal injection drugs are not available.

Glossip would be the first American to be executed using this method, although lawyers are expected to mount legal challenges before the sentence is carried out.