America: Sentenced to death for many hours without dying, sleeps well at night
US authorities struggled to find a way to execute a prisoner, but were finally forced to send him back to prison that same night.
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| Death by lethal injection in the United States. |
According to AP, the execution by lethal injection in the US state of Alabama was recently postponed because doctors inserted needles from the prisoner's hand to his ankle and groin but could not find a vein.
The dramatic execution began at 6 p.m. local time. The US Supreme Court had to postpone it three hours later, while death row inmate Doyle Lee Hamm, 61, went home to sleep soundly.
Attorney Bernard Harcourt, who has represented Hamm for 28 years, said he is seeking more information because of what happened during the execution process.
“That evening my client was in physical pain as doctors tried to find veins both in his extremities and in his groin,” Harcourt said.
This lawyer has repeatedly asserted that his client should not be executed by lethal injection because Hamm's cancer cells have caused severe damage to the veins over the long treatment period.
Two UN human rights experts also warned earlier this month that “Hamm’s attempt to insert a needle into a vein would cause extreme pain to the prisoner”.
Amnesty International also called for a stay of Hamm's execution, expressing concern that Hamm did not receive a fair trial when he was convicted of murder in 1987.
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| Death row inmate Doyle Lee Hamm, 61 years old. |
Speaking shortly after the failed execution, lawyer Harcourt said: “They may not have found a vein, after inserting the needle into my client multiple times over the course of two and a half hours.”
Alabama state authorities quoted doctors as saying that “they were unable to inject the inmate before the court-mandated time period ended.”
But the official insisted the reason for stopping the lethal injection was due to “lack of time” and not a delay.
“The problem that night was simply because there wasn't enough time,” said the unnamed official, not ruling out the possibility of continuing to take Hamm to the lethal injection in the future.
US Judge Karon Bowdre has asked the Alabama state government to provide death row inmate Hamm's medical records and information related to the failed execution.
According to Amnesty International, since the US adopted new regulations on the death penalty, 61 of the 1,468 executions have taken place in the state of Alabama.
