Oklahoma death penalty: state plans to execute inmates with nitrogen gas

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Oklahoma has been unable to obtain lethal injection drugs
Attorneys and rights groups say method is experimental

Associated Press in Oklahoma City

Wed 14 Mar 2018 18.40 EDT

After trying unsuccessfully for months to obtain lethal injection drugs, Oklahoma officials said on Wednesday they plan to use nitrogen gas to execute inmates once the state resumes using the death penalty, marking the first time a US state would use the gas to carry out capital punishment.

The state attorney general, Mike Hunter, and corrections department director, Joe Allbaugh, jointly announced the plan, saying the two agencies would work together to develop new protocols over the next several months.

“We can no longer sit on the sidelines and wait on the drugs,” Hunter said. “Using nitrogen will be effective, simple to administer, easy to obtain and requires no complex medical procedures.”

Oklahoma and other states have not been able to get the drugs required for lethal injections amid opposition from drugmakers to having their products used in executions. Allbaugh said in trying to find a supply of lethal drugs, he was forced to deal with “seedy individuals” who may have had access to them.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/14/oklahoma-death-penalty-nitrogen-gas-lethal-injection

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. My question is always,

What part of the Commandment about not killing is ambiguous?

[kiri]

4. death by reducing oxygen is better than via drugs

I oppose capital punishment, killing prisoners.

But 80% of the air we breathe is nitrogen, 19% is oxygen. Reducing the oxygen percentage slowly to about 13% results in gradual loss of consciousness, with no pain.

The prisoner goes into sleep and dies. May take about 45 minutes. Relatively humane.

[Nitram]

8. I just read that it only takes a minute to lose consciousness.

Because the subject is still breathing out carbon dioxide, there is no sensation of asphyxiation. In the US, at least 80 people died due to accidental nitrogen asphyxiation between 1992 and 2002, so we do know what the effects are. Raising the alarm about its use as "experimental" is not quite accurate.

[Odoreida]

15. Commandment? Not US law then. n/t

[dalton99a]

2. "The use of the nitrogen gas on unwilling subjects is entirely experimental and untested"

Such a bloodthirsty bunch

[Iggo]

3. Kill. Kill. Kill.

You fucking killers.

[Sgent]

5. I'm against the death penalty

as its used in the US (and generally), but all things considered, nitrogen gas is better than any of the alternatives -- including lethal injection.

Its the recommended method by the hemlock society and other persons.

[MFM008]

6. Because historically

Gassing people turns out so well....

[Nitram]

7. Sounds like a fast and painless way to die.

[Iggo]

13. Sounds like a fast and painless way to kill.

[DAngelo136]

9. The reason why it won't catch on

is because it is painless. In this religiously insane country and society, pain must be part of the punishment. On the other hand, we're squeamish about bloodletting. That's why we opt for more "scientific" and clinical ways of extinguishing human life.

Here's an explanation given on a YouTube video:

[NOMOGOP]

10. Big Pharma gets religion.

I'm surprised Pharma isn't just charging a million x what drug cost and washes it's hands of the matter. Denying people medication for $ is NO better than phony outrage displayed by refusing execution drugs. People die/suffer either way.

[Toorich]

11. Zyklon-B...

That is all. Go on about your business.

[The_jackalope]

12. Inert gas asphyxiation is a preferred form of suicide.

Simple, easy, pain-free and quite sure.
If I were to self-deliver, I'd use nitrogen.

That said, having the state kill unwilling people is simply barbaric.

[Old Crank]

14. I have always said

To drive the point home. The death penalty is only about revenge.

So the highest elected official in the state, the Governor, do the execution. 9mm with 1 round in front of the witnesses.

He signs the death warrant. He pulls the trigger.

[Quemado]

16. Why doesn't Oklahoma use fracking as a means of execution?

[Bengus81]

17. Hmm...not sure. Uhhh...test it on O.J first?!?!