Upcoming execution in Alabama

Rustyt1953 said:
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We had one of those on the third floor of the old jail behind the court house. The Judge referred to it as "Old Sparky." The last it was used was back in the 50's. One of the witnesses to the execution (the guy had killed two local cops) said when they flipped the switch it blew his eyeballs out and singed a lot of his skin. His head was shaved for the occasion. He jerked a few times and soiled his pants, but the witness said it didn't look like he felt anytime. Sparky is currently in a museum in Jackson,Ms. Before they got Sparky those convicted were hanged from a large oak tree on the court house grounds. From articles I have read and from talking to old timers it was a festive affair with plenty of BBQ and liquor. They had a countdown, kind of like dropping the ball at Times Square on New Years Eve. It also sent a message.
 
Some people don't care about the victims or their families. My wife, a Hattiesburg Mississippi police officer was shot and killed 39 years ago. It seems like yesterday. The man convicted of killing her was given the death penalty but that portion of the trial was later overturned by a liberal state supreme court. (It still is) He died in prison after 18 years, which is sooner than what his execution date would have been anyway. I went to several parole hearings before he died....not an enjoyable experience. My children were babies. They grew up without their Mom. My grand children never got to know her nor she them. I realize nothing is perfect and some people have been wrongly accused, incarcerated, and even executed. But when you have four officers and several others on the scene of the crime as witnesses I really don't see anything to appeal. Stretching these appeals out for decades is senseless.
 
Anyone ever see the Stacy Keach movie "The Traveling Executioner"? Apparently based at least partly on fact about an executioner who traveled around several southern states in the early 20th Century doing executions using a truck-mounted electric chair and generator.

There is a fascinating biography about Albert Pierrepoint, the famous British executioner of the early-mid 20th Century, before the British abolished capital punishment. He was one of a very few official British executioners, and probably the busiest. I do not remember the title, but after you start reading it, I guarantee you will not be able to put it down. When he was not out doing hangings (lots of those), he ran a London pub. His father and uncle had also been official British executioners and he apprenticed under them.
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This is the book: [ame]https://www.amazon.com/Executioner-Pierrepoint-autobiography-Albert-PIERREPOINT/dp/1858820618[/ame]
 
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I was once told that if you were convicted of performing a capital offense and had any choice, go for the death penalty. That kept you out of the general prison population and you were likely to die of something else before being executed while going through the endless appeals process.
 
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Florida gives you the option of the jab or the chair.

Ted Bundy sat in this chair in 1989.

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I did EHS in the railcar repair industry for several years. We often used nitrogen gas to purge other harmful gasses out of tank cars because it's so dense it will force other gasses out of the tank. We then had to purge the nitrogen out of the bottom of the tank with oxygen. Suffocation from nitrogen exposure was a real risk and could sneak up on a person. If someone was inside a tank car working someone else was on top of the tank car with a multigas meter monitoring the situation.
 
Said it before; capital punishment is a general waste of taxpayer money as it is almost universally more expensive than life in prison without parole. The appeals process, mandatory in most jurisdictions, is expensive and time-consuming. If I had my way life at hard labor would still be an option. And life sentences have the advantage of being reversible if the conviction proves to be in error.

There is a plethora of evidence that the threat of capital punishment does not serve as a sufficient deterrent for capital criminal activity.

Protection from "Cruel & Unusual Punishment" is guaranteed by the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. As with most "rules" the interpretation proves to be the interesting part.

Bryan
 
Some time back on another board, some thoughtful person put the US Army manual for execution by hanging online. It went into great detail on the mechanics, drawings on the scaffold and, being any governmental entity, turned it into a circus. There were orders on formations and the presence of a band. A tad macabre, but interesting reading. revealed some faults in folklore about hanging.

No idea when that one was dated but PAM 27-4, done in 1944, revised 2006 is available online. One wonders just how old the parent document is when looking at PAM 27-4 as it incluces "Execution by Musketry".
 
TXBryan said:
Said it before; capital punishment is a general waste of taxpayer money as it is almost universally more expensive than life in prison without parole. The appeals process, mandatory in most jurisdictions, is expensive and time-consuming. If I had my way life at hard labor would still be an option. And life sentences have the advantage of being reversible if the conviction proves to be in error.

There is a plethora of evidence that the threat of capital punishment does not serve as a sufficient deterrent for capital criminal activity.

Protection from "Cruel & Unusual Punishment" is guaranteed by the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. As with most "rules" the interpretation proves to be the interesting part.

Bryan
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I don’t think any sentence is a deterrent. Bad people are going to do bad things regardless of consequences. How bout we for once just look at it as PUNISHMENT!!! Some people (monsters) are simply not fit to walk among us. I cringe when I hear people talking about reforming an inmate. Just punish them!
 
I always thought that the "Cruel and unusual punishment" thing was intended to prohibit medieval torture and execution practices such as stretching on the rack, drawing and quartering, pouring molten lead down your throat, roasting in the hollow iron bull, intentional starvation, burning at the stake, etc. Now it has been perverted to include any kind of life-taking method, no matter how humane. So what is kindly and usual punishment?
 
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Our local George Soros beneficiary DA believes that any and all forms of punishment including imprisonment are cruel and unusual, unless it involves prosecution of cops for performing their duty.
 
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