Post by carolinem on Apr 26, 2007 4:36:49 GMT -5
The scene: Witnessing Filiaggi’s final moments
Brad penisen | The Chronicle-Telegram
LUCASVILLE — Ohio’s Death House is behind a steel door marked J1-150 in a nondescript building that’s remarkable only for what takes place inside.
Visitors who enter are taken to the viewing room, where the smell of antiseptic lingers.
Through a glass divide, the execution chamber can be seen — a dimly lit, yellow cinderblock room bare save for a gurney with Velcro straps, a gray digital clock and a microphone. The tubing that carries a lethal cocktail of chemicals into the body of condemned inmates snakes up the gurney.
On Tuesday, media witnesses were ushered into this room to watch the execution of James Filiaggi, an Elyria man sentenced to death for the 1994 slaying of his ex-wife, Lisa Huff Filiaggi. We were given strict instructions not to sit in the only six chairs in the room, which were divided into groups of three, and to not speak to other witnesses.
A moment later, three members of Lisa Filiaggi’s family filed in — her mother, a cousin and the fiance, with whom she was living on the night that James Filiaggi chased her from her Lorain home and followed her as she sought refuge in the home of a neighbor, shooting her in the head once he got inside.
As the victim’s witnesses settled in, three of Filiaggi’s friends came in and sat down.
Save for the muffled sound of Warden Edwin Voorhies Jr. reading the death warrant to Filiaggi in his cell a short distance away from the execution chamber, there was silence.
After that, two flat-screen televisions flashed to life — showing Filiaggi lying on a bed, his hands clasped behind his head as medical personnel inserted shunts into both of his burly arms. There was no sound with the video feed, but Filiaggi could be seen pointing toward a towel or pillow, which he placed beneath his head.
From what could be seen on the video, Filiaggi appeared to be cooperating. At one point, he lifted the sleeve of his white T-shirt to allow one of the two men placing the shunts easier access.
Afterward, Filiaggi was helped up, and he made the 17-step walk to the gurney, where he smiled and flashed a thumbs-up sign to his friends as he climbed onto the death bed.
He showed no fear as he was strapped in, and he gave a brief statement — thanking his friends and family for their love and support. His eyes flicked only briefly to his ex-wife’s family.
And then, at 11:14 a.m., the flow of the fatal combination of drugs was started.
The viewing chamber remained silent — the only sound being an occasional cough, the creak of someone shifting in their seat or the scratch of pens on paper from the reporters in the room.
In what seemed like a brief time, Filiaggi remained alert. Then, it appeared he drifted off to sleep. His breathing slowed, and then it seemed to stop.
Then he was very still. The curtain separating the execution chamber from the viewing area was closed so his vital signs could be checked by the Scioto County coroner.
There were none.
Nine long minutes after the lethal injection process began, James Filiaggi, 41, was dead
Brad penisen | The Chronicle-Telegram
LUCASVILLE — Ohio’s Death House is behind a steel door marked J1-150 in a nondescript building that’s remarkable only for what takes place inside.
Visitors who enter are taken to the viewing room, where the smell of antiseptic lingers.
Through a glass divide, the execution chamber can be seen — a dimly lit, yellow cinderblock room bare save for a gurney with Velcro straps, a gray digital clock and a microphone. The tubing that carries a lethal cocktail of chemicals into the body of condemned inmates snakes up the gurney.
On Tuesday, media witnesses were ushered into this room to watch the execution of James Filiaggi, an Elyria man sentenced to death for the 1994 slaying of his ex-wife, Lisa Huff Filiaggi. We were given strict instructions not to sit in the only six chairs in the room, which were divided into groups of three, and to not speak to other witnesses.
A moment later, three members of Lisa Filiaggi’s family filed in — her mother, a cousin and the fiance, with whom she was living on the night that James Filiaggi chased her from her Lorain home and followed her as she sought refuge in the home of a neighbor, shooting her in the head once he got inside.
As the victim’s witnesses settled in, three of Filiaggi’s friends came in and sat down.
Save for the muffled sound of Warden Edwin Voorhies Jr. reading the death warrant to Filiaggi in his cell a short distance away from the execution chamber, there was silence.
After that, two flat-screen televisions flashed to life — showing Filiaggi lying on a bed, his hands clasped behind his head as medical personnel inserted shunts into both of his burly arms. There was no sound with the video feed, but Filiaggi could be seen pointing toward a towel or pillow, which he placed beneath his head.
From what could be seen on the video, Filiaggi appeared to be cooperating. At one point, he lifted the sleeve of his white T-shirt to allow one of the two men placing the shunts easier access.
Afterward, Filiaggi was helped up, and he made the 17-step walk to the gurney, where he smiled and flashed a thumbs-up sign to his friends as he climbed onto the death bed.
He showed no fear as he was strapped in, and he gave a brief statement — thanking his friends and family for their love and support. His eyes flicked only briefly to his ex-wife’s family.
And then, at 11:14 a.m., the flow of the fatal combination of drugs was started.
The viewing chamber remained silent — the only sound being an occasional cough, the creak of someone shifting in their seat or the scratch of pens on paper from the reporters in the room.
In what seemed like a brief time, Filiaggi remained alert. Then, it appeared he drifted off to sleep. His breathing slowed, and then it seemed to stop.
Then he was very still. The curtain separating the execution chamber from the viewing area was closed so his vital signs could be checked by the Scioto County coroner.
There were none.
Nine long minutes after the lethal injection process began, James Filiaggi, 41, was dead