SAN JOSE, Calif.-
Medical logs of past state executions showed that some inmates might have been conscious during the lethal injection procedure because the sedatives were mixed by prison staffers with no medical background, an anesthesiologist testified Wednesday.
“There were errors in mixing drugs,” Dr. Mark Heath of Columbia University also testified, during the second day of court hearings challenging California’s lethal injection method.
The hearing was called by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel, who put California executions on hold in February amid concerns inmates may suffer unnecessary pain when being put to death.
The challenge was brought by condemned prisoner Michael Morales, convicted of kidnapping, torturing and raping 17-year-old Terri Winchell 25 years ago.
His attorneys maintain the paralyzing agent is given solely to make the inmate appear in a serene state to please execution witnesses and prison staff while masking what could be an excruciating death.
California, like most of the 37 states with lethal injection, uses a three-drug cocktail to execute. First a sedative, then a paralyzing agent and finally a heart-stopping dose, a process that takes about 12 minutes once the drugs begin flowing.
Heath, who has testified against lethal injection in five states, mentioned two California inmates who may have been conscious when executed: Robert Massie in 2001 and Crips co-founder Stanley Williams last year.
He said they may have been breathing, and therefore conscious, when the paralyzing drug was given, pushing them into a state of “agony.”
Heath said an anesthesiologist should participate in the execution to make sure the inmate is unconscious, but added that no execution could be perfect.
“No human endeavor can be performed to humane perfection every time,” he said.
Heath said the state’s latest plan to continually drip a sedative throughout the procedure won’t ensure the inmate will remain unconscious.
But he conceded on cross examination that he has never approved of a lethal injection method he has reviewed. He added that he never attended an execution and said it was unethical for doctors to participate in them.
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