Death penalty opponents have condemned a spate of executions in the U.S. this week, including one that was called off after officials spent an hour trying to set up an IV line for the inmate's lethal injection.
Reprieve U.S. said three of the four executions scheduled over a two-day stretch this week were "botched."
Murray Hooper was executed in Arizona on Wednesday, with media witnesses reporting that officials struggled to insert IV lines for 25 minutes and eventually had to insert one in his right leg by cutting into his femoral artery.
Later on Wednesday, Stephen Barbee was put to death in Texas. It took more than 90 minutes to execute Barbee, who was disabled, because prison officials had difficulty finding a usable vein in his body, The Texas Tribune reported.
Barbee's attorney Richard Ellis told Newsweek he was "saddened that Stephen's physical disabilities, about which we warned [Texas Department of Criminal Justice], seem to have played a part in his prolonged execution."
A day later, Alabama abandoned Kenneth Smith's execution after officials couldn't find a suitable vein to inject the lethal drugs before a midnight deadline.
Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Jon Hamm told journalists that officials had attempted to place IV lines for an hour before concluding that they did not have enough time to execute Smith before the death warrant expired.
Texas took 90 minutes to execute Stephen Barbee because his disability made finding a vein extra difficult.
— Reprieve (@Reprieve) November 18, 2022
In Arizona, officials failed to set a line in both Murray Hooper's arms and resorted to putting a catheter in his femoral artery, near his groin.
"The recent spate of disastrous lethal injection executions have shown that whatever the drug, whatever the protocol, condemned prisoners often spend their final hours in agonizing pain and distress," Reprieve U.S. director Maya Foa said in a statement to Newsweek.
"With each gruesome scene in the death chamber, we are witnessing the consequences of persisting with a broken method of execution, in real time."
Abraham Bonowitz, the executive director of Death Penalty Action, told Newsweek that most people "don't care if a convicted murderer feels some pain or suffers mental trauma while they are being killed as punishment for their crimes, actual or alleged. The U.S. Supreme Court has said such is to be expected and does not violate our Constitution.
"But whether or not you agree with that, we're asking state workers to take on a task they are not properly prepared for, nor cared for after the fact. Even when things go as expected, participation in executions is a source of nightmares, depression, and resultant self-medication, addiction and even suicide. Unlike the PTSD experienced by soldiers, corrections workers do not have those support systems."
Campaigners also noted that Smith's was the latest in a string of flawed lethal injections in Alabama.
Alan Miller's scheduled execution was called off in September because of difficulty accessing his veins. In a court filing, Miller said officials poked him with needles for almost two hours, and at one point left him hanging vertically on a gurney before announcing they were stopping.
The execution of Joe James Jr. in July took place after a three-hour delay because of issues with establishing an IV line, prompting Reprieve to say that procedure was also botched.
"No matter how many executions its officials catastrophically mishandle, Alabama appears determined to persist with lethal injection," Foa said.
"Alan Miller, Joe James and Doyle Lee Hamm were all subjected to prolonged suffering, but the state pressed ahead with Kenneth Smith's execution regardless, using the same broken procedure.
"Being prepared for execution, strapped to a gurney and stabbed again and again with needles as prison officials try and fail to kill you is torture. It is the definition of 'cruel and unusual punishment' and even supporters of the death penalty must recognise that it is time for Alabama to think again."
Bonowitz said a number of Alabama corrections officers "retired or resigned after the Joe James, Jr. fiasco in July. Now twice in a row with the failed execution attempts of Alan Miller and Kenny Smith, Alabama has conducted what amounts to mock executions—actually starting the process, failing, and sending prisoners back to their cells. It's a level of horror and torture that one might expect from a tyrannical dictatorship, not a democracy."
He said Alabama's lack of transparency about executions led the group to launch a campaign to "pull back the curtains" with the aim of "at least ensuring that these torture sessions are not conducted in secret. Maybe one day that will help stop the executions forever."
Newsweek has contacted prison officials in Arizona, Alabama and Texas for comment.
Update 11/20/22, 7:45 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Abraham Bonowitz.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on abortion rights, race, education, ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
