Recommendation: A Death Penalty with a Carbon Monoxide Gas Chamber
The other day, I had some advice for Judge Jeremy Fogel:
Judge, if you want to learn what Kent Scheidegger thinks about California’s death penalty, have him brought to court and examined by both sides. Don’t rely on the L.A. Times to tell you, for Pete’s sake.
But there’s another way to find out what Kent Scheidegger thinks about California’s death penalty: read his blog. In this post, he makes a pretty good suggestion: simply bring back the gas chamber, but use carbon monoxide instead of cyanide. Nobody can possibly call it cruel and unusual.
Yes, there might be complaints that this procedure would be too painless — but look at this way: even if we couldn’t avoid the nonsensical litigation that leads to silly opinions like Judge Fogel’s, using carbon monoxide would render facially ridiculous any abolitionist argument that the inmates are truly suffering pain. This would hopefully do something to stem the tide of such litigation — or at least redirect its focus to more meaningful issues, like the inmate’s actual innocence.
or nitrous oxide, such as dentists use. think of it as a painless root canal.
assistant devil's advocate (6559db) — 12/20/2006 @ 1:03 amHow about having 10 persons eat beans and then dispach them that way including these idiot judges
krazy kagu (4455b0) — 12/20/2006 @ 7:34 amWhat exactly is an “ethical expert”? How do you attain this designation? A lifetime of trying to do the right thing whilst wrestling with the ethical dilemmas found in daily life, as well as in the public sphere, is apparently not enough. Someone like that has to be the ultimate fantasy for an activist judge, because it’s just too easy to find an “ethical expert” who agrees with what you want to do.
“Bill, you agree with me about this case, what are your qualifications?”
“Well, I’ve thought long and hard about this, and…”
“Great, you’re an ethical expert. I’ll cite you.”
Jinnmabe (cc24db) — 12/20/2006 @ 8:54 amI am a little bit out of the criminal loop these days but the only Supreme Court jurisprudence I know of is how the death sentence is imposed and on whom it is imposed — not on how it is carried out. I expect this case will reach the Supreme Court and Judge Fogel and the Ninth Circuit will receive the slapping-down they richly deserve. The true shame is that if the parents of Terri Winchell had paid a prisoner to kill Morales in prison they, themselves, would be subject to the death penalty.
nk (d7a872) — 12/20/2006 @ 12:16 pmPainless execution? SLOWLY pump the air out. The condemned will pass out when the pressure falls to the equivalent of 20,000-30,000 feet altitude and, when the pressure gets low enough, peacefully die.
Arthur (5584b2) — 12/20/2006 @ 12:26 pmThousands of people have personal experience of this (passing out, not dying) from tests and training given to military airmen.
But won’t they just say that the terror of an impending execution is itself “cruel and unusual”? (I use “unusual” in its modern context of “I don’t like it.”)
So, lets take this a step further: outfit each death row cell with CO injectors and let it be a surprise. One must be careful, of course, to avoid accidental CO injection to multiple cells. Sounds like a contract for Microsoft. Or Diebold.
Kevin Murphy (0b2493) — 12/20/2006 @ 1:23 pmassistant devil’s advocate on 12/20/2006 @ 1:03 am wrote:
That could really complicate things. Under the right circumstances, N20 can (and does) explode.
The protocols for using N2O as an anaesthetic must be followed rigorously, including proper venting. More than one dentist and patient has learned this the hard way in dental office explosions since the 19th century.
Occasional Reader (6fb654) — 12/20/2006 @ 4:24 pmThe use of CO as an execution medium:
Another Drew (8018ee) — 12/20/2006 @ 5:04 pmUnfortunately, the courts are hung-up on this need for a “pain-less” method. Typically, CO poisoning results in a severe headache before passing out (everyone’s tolerance is different, your milage may differ). This headache phase would probably disqualify CO as a method.
Pat’s suggestion of bringing back hanging is still the best fall-back on this controversy. Or, in extremis, we can always use summary execution at the time of aprehension – just think of the money we’ll save in infrastructure and personnel.
ok, no nitrous oxide. the most inert gas in all of nature is helium, noblest of the “noble gases”…
assistant devil's advocate (d3742b) — 12/20/2006 @ 7:41 pm(cue donald duck voice): i’m innocent, i’m innocent!
i have the same problem with “ethical experts” as commenter #3. are they really more ethical, and by what metrics do we determine this? there’s a “bioethicist”, arthur caplan i believe, who’s quoted all the time. there’s another guy, peter singer, who’s written about euthanizing disabled people and bestiality, two subjects i’m not interested in hearing ethically parsed.
Hypoxia (not enough oxygen) causes a headache, and you get that at high altitude or with any non-poisonous gas, even nitrogen. Without oxygen the brain can’t regulate the cellular exchange of fluids and sodium. The cells then absorb fluid because they’re saltier than the surrounding fluid, and the brain swells, causing the headache.
You might not need a gas chamber. Just slap a mask on the prisoner and make sure the execution room is well-ventilated so the executioner doesn’t suffocate.
Jim C. (85b830) — 12/20/2006 @ 9:37 pmCirculating pure nitrogen. No oxygen. As long as the CO2 in expiration is carried away, the body has no idea that it need the O2 (the respiration feedback loop has to do with C02 concentrations.)
Essentially the same idea a lowering the air pressure, but using the mask, with no real danger to anyone else in the room.
bud (46e4bf) — 12/21/2006 @ 11:01 amWhy the hell haven’t these methods been used all along? Why bother with the injections? Everyone knows that no one dies instantly or painlessly through injections, witness accounts usually agree it takes minutes, sometimes many minutes.
The gas seems far better.
Gotta Know (66761c) — 12/22/2006 @ 6:45 am