Ohio, May 2, 2006: The execution of Joseph Lewis Clark, age 57, took nearly 90 minutes, making it one of the longest lethal injection executions in U.S history. The execution team struggled for 25 minutes to insert an intravenous line for the lethal injection, only to have Mr. Clark complain, "It's not working. It's not working" when
the lethal chemicals began flowing. Prison officials then drew curtains and attempted to re-establish the intravenous line, while Mr. Clark could be heard "moaning and groaning" by witnesses. A new IV was established, the curtains were re-opened, and the drug infusion began again. Mr. Clark raised his head several times and
breathed deeply before becoming still.
Condemned inmate asked prison staff to end his life
Some want to be with family. Others seek privacy.
They make phone calls (collect), watch television, listen to music, smoke,
eat and read the Bible. There are tears, fears, remorse and anger.
The end, however, is always the same for Ohio's condemned men: 8 syringes of deadly chemicals pumped into their veins over a 5-minute period.
The problems that plagued Joseph Clark's execution May 2 were well
publicized when prison personnel took more than an hour and 2 attempts to
hook up his IV lines after a vein collapsed. Mostly, the drama in the
Death House at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville
unfolds outside public view.
However, detailed, minute-by-minute records obtained by The Dispatch of
all but two Ohio executions since capital punishment was re-instituted in
1999 provide a rare and somber look at the rituals of death.
Before his lethal injection on Feb. 6 this year, Glenn L. Benner II had a
9-minute cell-front meeting with Rodney Bowser, the brother of Trina
Bowser, 1 of 2 women he killed.
The prison log shows Bowser asking Benner, "Why you did what you did?" "I
can grant you closure but not peace," Benner replied. "Today is the easy
part. This isn't about me now."
In the end, after talking in hushed tones that guards could not overhear,
the two men shook hands through the bars.
Not all go calmly.
William G. Zeurn was agitated before his execution, records show. At one
point he told the warden, "Skip over all the B.S. and just come and get me
when it's my turn." His turn came June 8, 2004, at 10:04 a.m.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction began keeping logs
after the Feb. 19, 1999, execution of Wilford Berry. He was the first
person executed in Ohio in more than 3 decades.
A prison official said there was no log available for the Sept. 25, 2002,
execution of Robert Buell.
The logs begin about 24 hours before an execution when the inmate arrives
at the Death House, a separate building within the prison complex. They
include details about visitors, phone calls, meals, conversations with
guards, sleep and bathroom visits.
Condemned men can make almost as many calls as they want - as long as they are collect.
While there are some common threads, visits and phone calls to family and
prayers, for example, the records reflect individual differences in mens'
final hours. Some watched sports, others concentrated on religious
programs or didn't turn on the television at all.
John W. Byrd Jr., who was executed on Feb. 19, 2002, cried when he met
with his attorneys, but later told guards that "he was not saying he was
sorry" for the murder of Monte Tewksbury. Byrd maintained his innocence in
his final words.
Inmate Lewis Williams struggled with the execution team, but the log
reflects that he was calm before his last moments, was "talking about the
mystery of God" with his spiritual adviser and "was in good spirits,
laughing and joking with his attorney."
Williams had to be held down by the execution team while IV lines were
inserted, then carried to the lethal injection table. He died Jan. 14, 2004.
William D. Wickline, a Columbus man sentenced to death for murdering and
dismembering Christopher and Peggy Ann Lerch, was concerned about the 75
paintings he had completed while on death row. He was assured, just before
his execution on March 30, 2004, that pictures had been taken of all of
his artwork.
The one case logged by the department in which the inmate was not executed
involved Richard Cooey, who got a last-minute reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court on July 24, 2003.
At one point, Cooey was so angry he punched a wall in his cell in the Death House and required medical treatment.
Later, after getting word of his reprieve, Cooey called his grandmother
"and offered to sweep and clean his cell" before being moved back to the
main prison.
(source: The Columbus Dispatch)
A condemned inmate asked prison officials to find another way to execute him as they struggled to administer a lethal injection after an
intravenous line failed, prison records show.
"Can you just give me something by mouth to end this?" convicted killer
Joseph Clark asked during the 90-minute delay, according to accounts
written by members of the execution team and obtained by The Associated
Press.
The May 2 execution was plagued with problems from the beginning, when
team members struggled for several minutes to find a vein. After inserting
a shunt in Clark's arm, the vein collapsed, leading Clark to push himself
up and say, "It don't work."
The team then attached a shunt to Clark's other arm but apparently tried
to administer the lethal drugs through the first shunt by mistake, the
reports said.
A team member noticed the error when Clark continued to move his left
foot, said prisons spokeswoman Andrea Dean.
Clark, 57, was executed after officials switched the drugs to the proper
line.
The execution happened amid a growing debate about lethal injection, with
many death row inmates claiming their deaths could constitute cruel and
unusual punishment, either because of the drugs or because the procedure
is not handled by specially trained medical personnel.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is reviewing the
execution but does not believe its procedures were flawed.
"The vein simply collapsed - that wasn't a flaw in the process," Dean
said.
Attorney Alan Konop, who represents Clark's family, said something is
"drastically wrong" with the prison's procedures. "We hope that this leads
to an honest evaluation and discussion of these problems," he said.
The reports of the execution team do not include the prison employees'
names.
The team appeared to anticipate problems from the start, with one member
describing that Clark's veins "were not going to be easy to find."
Clark was condemned for killing David Manning to get money for drugs. He
also was sentenced to life in prison for killing a store clerk the day
before Manning's death as part of a series of robberies.
ON THE NET -- Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction:
www.drc.state.oh.us/(source: Associated Press)
*********************
Lethal injection, recent Ohio execution discussed on 'Editors'
The controversy about lethal injection - including whether trained medical
personnel, such as doctors, should be involved and if the process is a
humane way to kill a condemned inmate - is the topic on The Editors this
week.
"My contention has always been that lethal injection is a medical charade,
meaning it's designed to simulate a medical procedure but it falls far
short," Dr. Jonathan Groner, an associate professor of surgery at Ohio
State University, said during a taping of the television program.
Dr. Groner said Joseph Lewis Clark was "clearly being tortured to death"
when it took Ohio nearly 90 minutes to execute him May 2 for the fatal
shooting of David Manning during a robbery of a gas station in 1984.
Toledo attorney Richard Kerger, who has represented death row inmates and
witnessed a client's electric chair execution in Alabama, said the Clark
case indicates "we have clear and undisputed evidence [execution] is cruel
and unusual."
Clark, 57, was the 21st man to be executed in Ohio and the first from
Lucas County after Ohio resumed use of the death penalty in 1999.
He was declared dead 86 minutes after the official start of his execution,
a process that typically takes about 10 minutes.
Prison personnel worked for 25 minutes to find a usable vein; Clark's
veins were scarred after years of intravenous drug use. After the process
began, Clark five times said, "It don't work."
The execution team, a few of whom have some medical technician training,
closed a curtain between Clark and the witnesses.
When it reopened, Clark appeared to have fallen asleep. He then was killed
by injection, which involves three drugs - the first to sedate, the second
to stop breathing, and the third to stop the heart.
According to state prison records obtained by the Associated Press, Clark
asked prison staff to find another way to kill him.
"Can you just give me something by mouth to end this?" Clark asked members
of the execution team as they struggled to find a way to insert the
intravenous line.
After finally attaching a shunt to Clark's right arm, the execution team
apparently tried to administer the lethal drugs through the original IV
line by mistake, according to written accounts of the execution.
A member of the execution team said he realized a problem "upon noticing
the wrong reaction by inmate Clark again," the member's statement said.
"I notice I had picked up the wrong line. Once I switched to proper IV
line execution was completed successfully."
Dr. Groner and Mr. Kerger also discuss other forms of execution, such as
the guillotine and the firing squad.
The Editors will be broadcast at 9 tonight on WGTE-TV, Channel 30, and at
12:30 p.m. Sunday on WBGU, Channel 27.
(source: Toledo Blade)