Ohio Execution; Staff Struggle To Find Inmate's Ve

[thinkinkmesa]

Ohio Execution; Staff Struggle To Find Inmate's Veins

May:23AM

LUCASVILLE, Ohio - Prison staff struggled Thursday to insert shunts in the
arms of a man scheduled to die for killing a prison cellmate because he got
tired of the cellmate giving up during chess games.

Christopher Newton's scheduled execution time of 10 a.m. Passed, and members
of the prison medical staff needed about 20 minutes to insert a shunt in the
left arm and had spent at least 30 minutes working on the right arm, said
Leo Jennings, a spokesman for Attorney General Marc Dann.

"They can't find the vein, they can't find an insertion point," Jennings
said.

Newton was still in his holding cell and had not been brought into the
death chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, Jennings said.

A year ago, inmate Joseph Lewis Clark's execution was delayed more than an
hour because the team could not find a suitable vein.

Newton, 37, who declined to seek any appeals in his case and did not ask
Gov. Ted Strickland for clemency, had no late legal actions pending.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ACLU Action Alert

Contact the governor immediately! The State of Ohio had another botched
execution, resulting in what some might call torture.

Governor Ted Strickland
Phone:
Fax:
E-mail: http://apps. das.ohio. gov/govpublic/ contact.aspx

Christopher Newton's execution time was 10:00 a.m. this morning, but members
of the prison medical staff needed about 20 minutes to insert a shunt in the
left arm and spent at least 30 minutes working on the right arm. They had
trouble finding a vein.
More than 2 hours later, the State was still trying to execute Christopher
Newton.

This is not the first time this has happened. It happened with Joseph Lewis
Clark in May 2006 when the execution was delayed more than an hour because
the team could not find a suitable vein.

There continue to be serious problems with Ohio's death penalty procedures
that demand an immediate halt to executions so that a thorough study of the
death penalty system may be conducted.

Having one botched execution is too many; that Ohio has now had two botched
executions in one year is intolerable.
Learn more about the death penalty, by clicking here
www.acluohio. org/issues/ DeathPenalty/ default.asp

Stand up! Get active! Make some noise! Our new website has all the tools you
need to restore lost liberty.

Check it out at www.acluohio. org.

[thinkinkmesa]

Hour-Plus Delay in Ohio Lethal Injection
By Julie Carr Smyth, The Guardian (UK)
May 25, 2007
http://tinyurl. com/yuw8z9

LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) - An execution was delayed more than an hour Thursday while prison medical staff struggled to find suitable veins in the condemned man's arms - the second time that has happened in Ohio in little more than a year.

The execution team stuck Christopher Newton at least 10 times with needles to get in place the shunts used to administer the lethal chemicals. Newton, who had insisted on the death penalty as punishment for killing a cellmate, continued to talk, smile and laugh with the prison staff, and at one point was even given a bathroom break.

When he eventually was moved from his holding cell and strapped to a table in the death chamber, he made this short statement: ``Yes, boy, I could sure go for some beef stew and a chicken bone. That's it.''

Newton, 37, was pronounced dead at 11:53 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility; his execution had been set to begin at 10.

He weighed 265 at his physical on Wednesday. The head of the Public Defender's death penalty division, Joe Wilhelm, said Newton told him it was hard for blood to be taken from his veins because of his weight.

The public defender's office said the decision was made not to intervene when the execution was delayed.

``You have to remember that Newton wanted to die. Our job isn't to oppose the death penalty, it's to represent our clients,'' said Greg Meyer, chief counsel for the Ohio Public Defender's Office.

In May 2006, the execution of another Ohio inmate, Joseph Lewis Clark, also was delayed more than an hour because the team could not find a suitable vein; a prison official said at the time that Clark's history of drug use may have been a factor. That case has been cited by death penalty opponents as an example of problems with lethal injection.

Executions typically last about 20 minutes. A group of Ohio inmates is suing over the state's injection method, saying it is unconstitutionally cruel, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio called on the state to stop executions because of Thursday's problems.

The delay will be discussed as part of that suit and helps show the state is unable to complete executions smoothly, Meyer said.

``There will be a day in trial that they will have to answer up as to what caused this two-hour delay,'' Meyer said. ``That's a lot of time messing around trying to get a needle in a vein.''

Gov. Ted Strickland said every precaution was taken to make sure Newton was treated respectfully and was not in pain.

``The procedure worked as it was intended to work,'' Strickland said. ``If someone is against the death penalty then I can understand why they would want me to have a moratorium on the death penalty, but I think what happened today is not any supporting justification for that.''

``There was not a cause to intervene,'' Strickland spokesman Keith Dailey said. ``Out of an abundance of caution, every precaution was taken before the procedure began to ensure that there would be no problems when the procedure began.''

Newton beat and choked cellmate Jason Brewer, 27, to death in 2001 after they argued over a chess game.

In a statement read by public defender Robert Lowe after the execution, Newton apologized to his victim's family. ``If I could take it back, I would,'' the statement said. ``To my family, I love you and I'm sorry.''

Although his attorneys argued Newton should be spared the death penalty because of mental disorders, a court last fall found him competent to forgo his appeals. The prosecution had argued that he had feigned mental illness.

Court documents say Newton, who spent much of his adult life in prison, knew Brewer's killing was a capital crime, and refused to cooperate with investigators unless they sought the death penalty.

In an interview with reporters last month, Newton said he killed Brewer because he repeatedly gave up while they were playing chess.

``Every time I put him in check, he'd give up and want to start a new game,'' Newton said. ``And I tried to tell him you never give up ... I just got tired of it.''

Newton also claimed that he had intentionally gotten himself put back in prison by leaving behind a handprint during a 1999 break-in at his father's house.

[2]
Toledo Attorney Angry Over Botched Executions
WTOL-TV in Toledo
May 25, 2007
http://tinyurl. com/2ut7o6

TOLEDO -- Toledo attorney Alan Konop says Thursday's execution of
Christopher Newton is an unfortunate repeat of what happened this time last
year to his client, Joe Clark.
Konop wants Governor Strickland to halt all executions until the Bureau of
Prisons figures out how to stop this from happening again. (See attached
story about Newton's execution.)
Toledo native Joe Clark was convicted of the 1984 murder of David Manning at
a gas station on Airport Highway. Last May, he was executed. But it took
almost 90 minutes, because they couldn't find the right veins in his arms.
"He actually got up and said, 'Stop it, you're not doing it right,' " Konop
said.
Family members told Konop what Clark went through on the gurney.
But should anyone, especially the victim's family, be expected to feel
sympathy for this convicted killer? A man who was also sentenced to life in
prison for killing another clerk the night before?
"I don't think there's any civilized society that feels that a person who's
been sentenced to death should be tortured to death," Konop argues.
The brother of murder victim David Manning told News 11 he firmly believes
in the death penalty, but actually agrees with Konop. Mike Manning said: "I
believe in the constitutionality of the death penalty. In other words, you
should not have to suffer because of the state."
Next month, Konop says he will file a civil lawsuit against the State of
Ohio for "cruel and unusual punishment" in how Clark was put to death.
"We hope that if the state sees that they can be liable for damages, that
they will take a new and fresh look at how they carry out executions," Konop
said.
Posted by KO

[3]
Shamed Again - Another Botched Execution in Ohio
By Jonathan I. Groner MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery, OSU
News Release
May 25, 2007
http://prisonersoli darity.org/ JonathanGroner1. htm

After the botched execution of Joseph Clark in May, 2006, a thorough review
of Ohio's lethal injection protocol was performed. On June 27, 2006, Ohio
Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Terry Collins wrote a
letter to Governor Taft describing several "refinements" to the lethal
injection protocol and stating that "Our goal is to always complete the
process in a professional and dignified manner for all parties."
Today, barely a year later, the State of Ohio took even longer to execute
Mr. Newton than it took to execute Mr. Clark. The "medical team" spent over
an hour prodding Mr. Newton's arms and legs with needles in at least 10
different locations before intravenous access was obtained. The entire
procedure took nearly two hours, so long that Mr. Newton required a bathroom
break. He was declared dead nearly two hours after the procedure began.
Why did all of the "refinements" fail? Because lethal injection is based on
medical technology and therefore requires medical expertise. IV access
problems occur every day in hospitals, but there are skilled medical
professionals available in hospitals to help out. In difficult patients,
sometimes sophisticated IV access procedures are performed by physicians.
But if physicians were to assist with an execution, they would be violating
fundamental principles of medical ethics. Thus, lethal injection is
inherently flawed. Performing a lethal injection without medical
professionals (such as physicians) can cause torture, but performing it with
physicians is unethical. Therefore, no amount of "refinement" can fix Ohio's
execution technique.
Today's execution was both unprofessional and undignified. Future executions
are likely to be botched as well. It is time for Governor Strickland to call
for a moratorium on capital punishment in Ohio.

Jonathan I. Groner MD
Trauma Medical Director, Children's Hospital
Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery
The Ohio State University College of Medicine
700 Children's Drive
Columbus, OH 43205
email: gronerjATchi. osu.edu

[thinkinkmesa]

Execution took 16 minutes
Inmate was seen to convulse, twitch; fuel for debate
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


COLUMBUS - The 16 minutes it took for Christopher Newton to die once lethal chemicals began flowing into his veins was the longest stretch of any executed inmate for whom records have been kept since 1999, an Associated Press review of state prison records shows.

During that span Thursday, Newton's stomach heaved, his chin quivered and twitched, and his body twice mildly convulsed within its restraints. Records show that other Ohio inmates died within an average of 7.5 minutes.

Newton's unusual amount of movement, when combined with the event's long duration, raised new questions Friday among death penalty critics already alarmed by the 90 minutes it took to find suitable veins through which to infuse the lethal cocktail.


Newton had insisted on the death penalty as punishment for choking and beating cellmate Jason Brewer, 27, his cellmate at the Mansfield Correctional Center, after the two argued over a chess game in 2001.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio on Thursday asked the state to halt its vigorous execution program in the wake of Newton's experience, but state prison officials said Friday his execution was properly handled and considered successful. They planned no investigation or autopsy.

Ohio State University surgeon Jonathan Groner, a death penalty opponent, said the second of three drugs contained in the cocktail should have paralyzed Newton, rather than allowing the five minutes of movement witnesses to his execution could observe.

"That would suggest that the second drug of the 3-drug protocol was not being effective," he said. Groner said multiple needle insertions into Newton's veins - which began in the crook of his elbow but migrated up and down both his arms as efforts intensified to insert the shunts - are likely to have made them porous and unable to efficiently deliver the deadly chemicals.

"It seems too long," he said. "The whole thing seems agonizing."

State prison officials said there was no connection between the 90 minutes of poking with needles Newton underwent beforehand and his movement on the table.

Prisons spokeswoman Andrea Dean said Newton's obesity - he was 6 feet, 265 pounds - explains both the difficulty in accessing his veins and the motion visible in the execution chamber.

"The only movement I saw was you could see his chest moving and then his lower lip was quivering," said Dean, who was present at the event. "The warden told us he was snoring."