S Carolina mulls electric chair as only option for condemned

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

S Carolina mulls electric chair as only option for condemned
Jeffrey Collins, Associated Press
Updated 3:32 am CST, Tuesday, March 3, 2020

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina once had one of the county's highest rates of execution, even putting two prisoners to death in one night.

But now the state hasn't executed a prisoner in nine years and currently lacks the drugs to carry out lethal injections for any of the 37 inmates on the state's death row.

Some lawmakers are pushing to give the state an option to start executing prisoners again by giving them no choice but to go to the electric chair.

“We have to have a method in which to carry out the sentences of the court," said Republican Rep. Eddie Tallon, a retired state agent from Spartanburg who was the lead investigator in the case that sent South Carolina serial killer Pee Wee Gaskins to the electric chair in 1991 after he killed at least 14 people.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/S-Carolina-mulls-electric-chair-as-only-option-15100691.php

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Rep. Eddie Tallon

[marble falls]

1. I vote to kill the death penalty.

[lastlib]

17. Agree! The state should NOT have the power to take life. Period.

It is an evil concept, and carried out by evil and barbaric means. End it. Twenty-two states have ended it, and the rest should follow.

[hlthe2b]

2. Gawd, the sadistic streak for some of these so-called "law & order" types runs strong...

I know full well the depths of depravity they deal with as prosecutors, but damn. Maybe we should return to hanging until near-dead followed by "drawing and quartering" or burned at the stake--with tickets sold to the spectacle. Uggh.

[Newest Reality]

3. Barbarism!

Nitrogen oxide would be effective and painless. There is no need for an impressive, scary special gas chamber, (which often used more toxic gasses) either. No choice but go to the electric chair? Pomp and circumstances. It looks frightening and if your read up on how that works, you can end up frying a person several times like cooking a chicken before it's dead.

Barbaric! They want the effect of it as an erroneous disincentive. I smell an agenda and ulterior motive there.

Nitrogen gas or oxygen-depleted air has been considered for human execution, as it can induce nitrogen asphyxiation. The victim detects little abnormal sensation as the oxygen level falls. This leads to asphyxiation (death from lack of oxygen) without the painful and traumatic feeling of suffocation, or the side effects of poison

ing.

[Newest Reality]

4. Sadists!

The use of the electric chair has declined as legislators sought what they believed to be more humane methods of execution. Lethal injection became the most widely used method, aided by media reports of botched electrocutions in the early 1980s.

The electric chair has been criticized because of several instances in which the subjects were killed only after being subjected to multiple The use of the electric chair has declined as legislators sought what they believed to be more humane methods of execution. Lethal injection became the most widely used method, aided by media reports of botched electrocutions in the early 1980s.

The electric chair has been criticized because of several instances in which the subjects were killed only after being subjected to multiple electric shocks. This led to a call for ending of the practice, as being a "cruel and unusual punishment".[51] Trying to address such concerns, Nebraska introduced a new electrocution protocol in 2004, which called for administration of a 15-second-long application of electric current at a potential of 2,450 volts; after a 15-minute wait, an official then checks for signs of life. In April 2007, new concerns raised regarding the 2004 protocol resulted in the ushering in of the current Nebraska protocol, calling for a 20-second-long application of electric current at a potential of 2,450 volts. Prior to the 2004 protocol change, an initial eight-second application of current at 2,450 volts was administered, followed by a one-second pause, then a 22-second application at 480 volts. After a 20-second break, the cycle was repeated three more times.

In 1946, the electric chair failed to kill Willie Francis, who reportedly shrieked, "Take it off! Let me breathe!", after the current was applied. It turned out that the portable electric chair had been improperly set up by an intoxicated prison guard and inmate.[52] A case was brought before the U.S. Supreme Court (Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber),[53] with lawyers for the condemned arguing that although Francis did not die, he had, in fact, been executed. The argument was rejected on the basis that re-execution did not violate the double jeopardy clause of the 5th Amendment of the United States Constitution, and Francis was returned to the electric chair and successfully executed in 1947.

Recorded incidents of botched electrocutions were prevalent after the national moratorium ended January 17, 1977; two in Alabama, three in Florida, one in Georgia, one in Indiana, and three in Virginia. All five states now have lethal injection as the default method if a choice is not made.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_chair

[Newest Reality]

7. I am vehemently against the death penalty.

However, there is one particular electrocution that really had me in tears and I remained disturbed for a long time after reading about it. It was a racist outcome and George Stinney was only 14-years-old. It was a horrendous travesty in every way:

George Stinney was executed at the Central Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina on June 16, 1944, at 7:30 p.m. At 7:25 pm, standing 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighing just over 90 lbs three police officers approached the cell where George was being held, one officer entered and took him out of his cell. The officers escorted him to the execution room where they placed him in the electric chair, using a Bible he was carrying as a booster seat because George was so small.[16] George was then restrained by his arms, legs, body to the chair. His father was allowed to approach George to say his final words to his son. An officer asked George if he had any last words to say, but George just shook his head. George Stinney could only whimper and take big deep breaths as one of the officers pulled a strap from the chair and placed it over his mouth, causing George to break into tears. They then placed the face mask over his face, which did not fit him, as George continued sobbing. When the lethal electricity was applied, the mask covering George's face slipped off, revealing George's burned scalp and tears streaming down his face, saliva dripping from his mouth.[16][17] George Stinney was declared dead after eight minutes. George's teeth were smoking and he had one eye missing. The next day (Saturday, June 17, 1944) he was buried by his family at Sumter, South Carolina. For a long time, his body was in an unmarked grave in hopes that the anonymity would allow him to forever rest in peace.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stinney

[cab67]

13. True story -

I have issues with vertigo. It goes back to an infection in my right ear about 20 years ago. It wiped out most of the hearing on that side and damaged my semicircular canals.

Usually, the vertigo comes on gradually. But once or twice, it's come on very suddenly. My head is suddenly diving down and to my left. About half of the people who experience this actually feel something pulling their face down; I'm in the other half that feels something pushing the back of my head.

I experience several things when this happens. I suppose it's because so many neurons are firing at once that different parts of my brain are doing the best they can to make sense of it. I see sparks, my skin tingles, my ears ring (including the one that doesn't work so well - and I both taste and smell cold peanut butter.

I once read about someone who survived the electric chair. It jolted the man, but didn't kill him. (They repaired the chair and executed him a year later.) He was asked what he felt. One of the things he mentioned was tasting cold peanut butter.

Whatever happens to me with sudden vertigo appears to simulate being electrocuted.

[genxlib]

5. There are so many things wrong with the death penalty

It continues to boggle my mind that the "how" question continues to be the biggest stumbling block.

If you are truly pro, you can find thousands of ways to kill someone.

If you are truly anti, then no method will ever be OK.

If you are trying to thread the needle between a humane death and a suffering one, then you might need to rethink the whole thing.

It is long past time that we gave up the death penalty. If it was ethical, it would be easy. It's not.

[tblue37]

6. Imagine being cooked to death over several minutes--of even longer! nt

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Rigid minds wear blinders

How often do they get the wrong guy?

[Pope George Ringo II]

9. It's hard to find video of human beings suffering in the electric char.

It's a little easier to find video of Topsy the elephant being electrocuted. I DON'T recommend it for anyone who might be sensitive to such things, but if you can stand to watch something so awful it makes a powerful argument against electrocution:

[Shermann]

10. Solar powered electric chairs

They would use renewable energy, garnering a nod from the liberals.

They would have less power, resulting in slower, more agonizing deaths. This would please the conservatives.

This is a win-win people.

[Traildogbob]

11. Let me see!

I can support the electric chair for Lindsay's treason. I want him to feel the kind of pain he is inflicting while planting his head up Putin/Trump anal cavities.

[cab67]

12. There's only one means of execution guaranteed to be painless.

That's to have the condemned person's head explode. It would instantly destroy the brain; without that, no sensation.

I am NOT advocating for this. I find the concept of capital punishment barbaric, and I cannot accept the possibility that an innocent person could be executed by mistake.

[RhodeIslandOne]

14. Bu...bu...but South Carolina is such a great state!

Just a reminder, we ain't winning there in November.

[Evolve Dammit]

15. Jeeesus H. SC stuck in the past. Far from the only state for sure.

With all the death row cases that have been researched and reversed, it is time to abolish it nationally. Life in prison is bad enough.

[DFW]

16. Newsflash to South Carolina Republicans!! There IS another option!

Abolish the death penalty.

That way, you don't have to worry about how to kill anybody.

Or is that one a little too high tech for ya?

[mwooldri]

18. How many SC legislators who approve of death penalty...

... are also pro forced birth (i.e. anti abortion)?

IMO no death penalty, and leave the medical stuff between doctors and their patients.