Florida court puts 'Old Sparky' on trial

Inmate says death by electrocution is cruel

July 9, 1997
Web posted at: 11:31 p.m. EDT (0331 GMT)

In this story

'Possible he experienced pain'
'Foolish to worry about a little pain'
'Not like and an off switch'

From Correspondent Susan Candiotti

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (CNN) -- Florida's electric chair, known as "Old Sparky," has dispensed plenty of death over the years. Now it's the chair's turn to go on trial.

The inquiry was prompted by the March 25 botched execution of convicted murderer Pedro Medina, a gruesome incident that outraged death penalty opponents.

As a result of that incident, hearings are under way in a north Florida courtroom on behalf of Leo Jones, who was to be executed April 15 for the 1981 murder of a Jacksonville police officer.

Jones' execution is on hold until the court resolves his complaint that the electric chair amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Duval Circuit Judge A.C. Soud is to issue a ruling August 8.

"The sole issue to be determined is whether the electric chair in its present condition is cruel and unusual punishment," defense attorney Martin McClaine said.

CNN's Susan Candiotti reports from Jacksonville, Florida.

Jones' attorneys are focusing on the Medina execution, during which flames shot out from behind his face mask. Witnesses testified that his body jolted for several minutes after the electricity was turned off.

A faulty sponge and headpiece were blamed. It was the second botched execution in the 74-year-old chair since 1990.

'It is possible he experienced pain'

"It is possible he experienced pain during his execution," testified Dr. Jonathan Arden, first deputy chief medical examiner of New York City, at the hearing.

Later, under cross-examination from the state, he said: "I see no evidence that he was awake and able to feel pain after the current was turned off."

Another forensic pathologist said any sign of breathing by Medina would indicate the brain was still working. Two journalists who also testified Wednesday said they saw a slight movement of the chest after the electricity was cut.

"It seemed to me to be a spasmodic movement. It was kind of a shudder," Michael Griffin of The Orlando Sentinel said.

A victim's father says pain unimportant

Glenn Lawhon, who watched the execution of his son's killer 15 years ago, dismisses complaints about the chair. "I think it's foolish to worry about whether or not there's a little pain involved," he said.

Soud ruled in April that problems with the chair had been fixed, and any future executions would be constitutional. He said he was convinced Medina felt no unnecessary pain.

But Jones' attorneys won a continuation of the hearing from the Florida Supreme Court, which ruled that Soud did not allow them to call expert witnesses.

Arden said the only autopsy he has performed on a victim of electrocution involved a construction worker who was killed by 880 volts, well below the 2,000 volts pumped out by Florida's chair.

But having read accounts from a physician's assistant who detected a faint pulse -- called an agonal pulse -- and slight movements of the chest in the minutes after the electric chair had run its cycle, Arden said there was little doubt Medina was still alive.

"Somebody having an agonal pulse or agonal respiration is still alive," Arden said. "It may not be strong. An agonal pulse clearly indicates somebody ... who is on the way out. But it also indicates somebody who, at that moment, is still alive."

Medina probably not conscious

Arden disputed earlier testimony for the state that the burst of voltage that entered the brain would be like turning the lights out. "It is not a simple phenomena, like an on-off switch," Arden said.

In testimony that Soud did not accept as evidence but allowed for review by the state Supreme Court, Arden said it was doubtful that Medina was conscious immediately after the execution. "At the time of these agonal pulses, it is mostly unlikely that he was conscious and feeling pain."

Death penalty opponents argue that what happened to Medina should be the death knell for the chair.

"With flames shooting out of a man's head, it's a further sign that this form of punishment is flawed and should be done away with," Steve Hawkins of National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty said.

The chair's failures are prompting debate over whether death by lethal injection should be an option.

"If you have lethal injection, I suspect the same arguments -- it's too cruel, it's too painful -- would be made as well," Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles said.

After Soud issues his ruling, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments September 8. If "Old Sparky" is powered down in Florida, that will leave five states -- Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee and Nebraska -- that use the electric chair as the sole means of execution.

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Related sites:

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The Death Penalty, Pros and Cons
Death Penalty Information - American Society of Criminology
U.S. Supreme Court Death Penalty Cases Since 1990
The Florida Death Penalty Statute

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