Execution protocol in the US state of Missouri allows for “surgery without anaesthesia” if the typical process of finding a suitable vein to inject the lethal drug doesn’t work, lawyers for a death row inmate say in an appeal aimed at sparing his life.
Brian Dorsey, 52, is scheduled for execution on Tuesday for killing his cousin and her husband at their central Missouri home in 2006. His attorneys are seeking clemency from Gov. Mike Parson and have several appeals pending.
A federal court appeal focuses on how Missouri injects the fatal dose of pentobarbital. The written protocol calls for the insertion of primary and secondary intravenous lines. But it offers no guidance on how far the execution team can go to find a suitable vein, leaving open the possibility of an invasive “cutdown procedure,” Dorsey’s attorneys say.
Why guillotine and not some sort of gas like nitrogen or carbon monoxide?
The primary argument for why capital punishment is kept around in the US is to terrify people into not committing crimes.
The guillotine is a classic terrifying death machine while still being more humane than other, more modern techniques. It’s also difficult to fuck up and cheap to administer.
That would be a stupid argument because it’s not true. It doesn’t work that way. Why should decisions about the methods be based on falsehoods?