Unfreakingbelievable

Much to my dismay, the State of California halted the execution of Michael Morales today.

SAN QUENTIN — Capping a dramatic legal battle that raised questions of medical ethics and the future of lethal injection, California prison officials late Tuesday called off Michael Morales' execution, saying they were unable to comply with a judge's conditions for putting the convicted rapist-murderer to death.

The state's decision means that the execution will be delayed at the very least until early May — and more likely for many months — while the federal court in San Jose conducts a formal evidentiary hearing on the constitutionality of the state's execution procedures.

The Morales furor began a week ago when U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel declared that California's three-stage drug cocktail of a sedative, paralytic drug and heart-stopping chemical — the same protocol used in 37 of the 38 states with lethal injection — could mask, rather than eliminate, an inmate's pain during execution.

Fogel said the state would have to modify its execution procedure or he would hold a full hearing on the process in May.

To address his concern, prison officials elected to go forward just after midnight Monday with two doctors on hand to ensure that the sedative would be sufficient to deaden the pain of the heart-stopping drug. Just before the execution, however, the two anesthesiologists balked, saying the procedures forced them into the role of executioner, in violation of their medical ethics.

Fogel then said officials could go forward later in the day with a lethal dose of the sedative alone — administered by a licensed medical professional stationed within the execution chamber rather than by the usual "unseen hand" delivering the fatal drugs from another room.

But just two hours before the new, 7:30 p.m. time for the execution, a deputy attorney general told court officials that it had been called off.

San Quentin spokesman Crittendon said the state "was not able to find any medical professionals willing to inject medication intravenously, ending the life of a human being."

So I ask you, why make this stand NOW? Why on the day of the execution? I understand their wanting to possibly consider other methods, but why put the victim's family through this? Why back out on this man's punishment? Why should he get a free pass when he is responsible for the suffering of an innocent human being? Our penal system is a joke as it is. This just makes a bigger mockery of it. Loopholes and legal trickery galore. It's all a big game and the criminals/prisoners know it.

There is no way to ensure that a prisoner won't feel some pain when he is executed. Period. Frankly, I'd rather they go back to public hangings or firing squads. Perhaps we could throw them into a pit of hungry tigers. I WANT them to feel pain. I'm sure the ACLU would have a problem with that though. I don't know how much more we can do for these criminals. I really don't. Other countries probably laugh at us for the way we baby them. They probably marvel at the "rights" that our convicted rapists, serial killers, child molesters, etc. have.

Screw their "rights" not to feel pain for a brief minute during their euthanization. What about the rights of an innocent 17 year old girl? What about HER right not to be violently bludgeoned to death with a hammer? What about HER rights not to be raped while she is unconscious and near death? What about HER rights not to be stabbed 4 times in the chest? Those are the rights that I'm a little more concerned with.

I'm very sorry for the family of Terri Winchell. They've been through a lot, and it looks as though it's going to be dragged out for a little while longer until they get the (relative) justice that they are looking for.