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America's death row scandals: THREE-HOUR execution, expired lethal injection and denial of last meal

Alabama officials were sued after Joe Nathan James Jr was put through '3 hours of pain and suffering' in 'the longest execution ever' in the US

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA: A 50-year-old Alabama killer, Joe Nathan James Jr, was put to death on July 28, 2022, after “3 hours of pain and suffering” making it the longest execution ever in history. James, who was sentenced to death for his role in the 1994 killing of his former girlfriend, Faith Hall, was supposed to get executed at 6 pm on July 28, despite objections from victim’s family who did not support the death penalty and preferred he spend his life in prison. However, his lethal injection, which is Alabama's primary method of execution, was delayed until 9.04 pm, and he was pronounced dead at 9.27 pm.

Commenting on the delay, Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm insisted at that time that “nothing out of the ordinary” happened, reports New York Post. But following the execution, an independent autopsy was conducted in August 2022. And then, another autopsy was later conducted by Dr Boris Datnow, a pathologist in Birmingham with more than 20 years of experience. The results of the state autopsy were not made public but the independent autopsy revealed that James suffered torturous treatment for hours before his death, stated WSWS.

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'Alabama cannot pretend that lethal injection is in any way humane'

According to Daily Mail, a lawsuit has now been filed by James' family on May 3, suing Alabama officials for the "cruel and unusual punishment" inflicted on James. It states that Alabama Department of Corrections "shrouds its execution protocol in secrecy and refuses to disclose critical details surrounding Mr James's execution." In a statement to Daily Mail, Maya Foa, director of human rights organization Reprieve US, said, "After enduring the unimaginable pain of a family member being subjected to the longest lethal injection in US history, the James family have still not received any basic answers or accountability," and added that the lawsuit is "vital," because it is "challenging Alabama's blatant violations of the US Constitution at a time when the state has announced plans to send more people to the execution chamber."

Foa expressed the state is "refusing to come clean about what happened during this and other catastrophically botched attempted executions." She further said, "James' execution will go down in history as an illustration of the human consequences of the broken method of lethal injection. Alabama cannot continue to use the facade of medicine to pretend that lethal injection is in any way humane."

Case of Doyle Lee Hamm who survived botched execution attempt

A similar case in 2018 was also pointed out when Doyle Lee Hamm, who was convicted in the slaying of a motel clerk named Patrick Cunningham in 1987, survived a botched execution attempt. The officials called off the execution of Hamm after staff had trouble finding a suitable vein for the intravenous line, which punctured him at least 11 times in his limbs and groin while trying unsuccessfully to connect the IV line, states New York Post. He later died of lymphatic cancer in November 2021, as per Montgomery Advertiser. However, Hamm was not the only one, there are several other Alabama death row inmates to survive their executions for the same reason, including Alan Eugene Miller in September 2022 and Kenneth Smith in November 2022.

Reprieve US, a legal action non-governmental organization, stated, "Executing states recognize that if people knew what really happens in the death chamber, support for capital punishment would fall to unsustainable levels. So states go to great lengths to hide the gruesome reality of the death penalty from view. This is most obvious when they're drawing the curtain on executions that go wrong or preventing witnesses from seeing the desperate struggle to insert IV lines, but it's actually much more pervasive and wide-reaching than that. Joe James' execution and other recent executions show how states like Alabama have effectively been executing people twice – firstly the torturous procedure behind closed doors, and secondly the performance in front of witnesses."

Texas uses expired execution drugs

But Alabama officials are not alone. The state of Texas has been accused of using expired execution drugs that can cause unnecessary pain and suffering. Daily Mail states, "fueled by a lack of pharmacies willing to produce the execution drug, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice decided to extend their stockpile's use-by-dates," and "prison officials have been using the drugs since 2012 and deny that their extended use is more painful." 

Final meal before execution not granted

Six condemned Texas inmates filed lawsuit last year, arguing the use of the drugs violated the US Constitution's statutes against cruel and unusual punishment. However, while the lawsuit was in process, inmates who signed onto the case, including convicted killers Wesley Ruiz, John Balentine, Gary Green, Arthur Brown Jr and Robert Fratta, are already executed by the same authority they signed to sue.

Ruiz, who was sentenced to death for the 2007 shooting of Dallas police Senior Cpl Mark Nix, was executed on February 1, 2023.  Balentine, who was convicted for the January 1998 deaths of Edward Mark Caylor, 17, Kai Brooke Geyer, 15, and Steven Watson, 15, in Amarillo, was executed on February 8, 2023. Green, who was convicted in 2010 for the murder of his wife, Lovetta Armstead, and her six-year-old daughter, Jazzmen Montgomery, got executed on March 7, 2023. Brown, convicted of the drug-related killings of four people in June 1992, was executed on March 9, 2023. Fratta, convicted for the November 1994 fatal shooting of his wife, Farah, was executed on January 10, 2023. None of the inmates were granted a final meal after Texas banned it in 2011, reported Daily Mail.