law: December 2006 Archives
Last Wednesday, the name of Angel Diaz was added to a long list of persons whose executions have been botched in recent American history. As widely reported in the press, it took Florida thirty-four minutes to kill him, twice the usual time. The needles that carried the lethal chemicals were mistakenly inserted completely through their intended targets--the veins in Diaz's arm--into the flesh of his arms. Thus, instead of being unconscious within the usual three or four minutes after the administration of the first chemical in the execution protocol, Diaz "appeared to be moving twenty-four minutes after the first injection, grimacing, blinking, licking his lips, blowing and appearing to mouth words."
Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, 2006
Preliminary figures indicate that, as a whole, law enforcement agencies throughout the Nation reported an increase of 3.7 percent in the number of violent crimes brought to their attention in the first half of 2006 when compared to figures reported for the first six months of 2005. The violent crime category includes murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.
The number of property crimes in the United States from January to June of 2006 decreased 2.6 percent when compared to data from the same time period in 2005. Property crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Arson is also a property crime, but data for arson are not included in property crime totals. Figures for 2006 indicate that arson increased 6.8 percent in the first half of the year when compared to 2005 figures for the same time period.
Md. executions halted - baltimoresun.com
In a narrowly tailored decision with potentially sweeping consequences, Maryland's highest court ordered a halt yesterday to executions in the state, ruling that procedures for putting prisoners to death were never submitted for the public review required by law.
Under the Court of Appeals ruling, state prison officials face the prospect of having to submit the execution protocols to the scrutiny of a joint legislative committee and schedule a public hearing on the issue. Alternatively, the court ruled, the legislature could exempt the execution procedures from that review process - something that one state senator characterized as "very unlikely."
MiamiHerald.com | 12/16/2006 | Gov. Bush orders hold on executions
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush halted all Florida executions and ordered a special commission to review lethal-injection policies after a medical examiner Friday suggested Miami killer Angel Nieves Diaz's execution was botched.
The order, asking the commission to report its results by March 1, came the same day a federal judge imposed an execution moratorium in California, finding that lethal injection is painful and unconstitutionally cruel.
A violent career criminal, Diaz was executed Wednesday for the 1979 killing of a Miami topless-bar manager. It took 34 minutes for him to die -- more than double the average time -- as he grimaced, flexed his jaw and opened his mouth.
Diaz was the 21st person executed under Bush, a record high for Florida governors.
