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Friday, December 15, 2006

Cruel Punishment

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Eighth Amendment

I have strongly mixed feelings about the death penalty. I be the first to say that I didn't shed any tears for the passing of Ted Bundy. I certainly would want Osama bin Laden to face the same fate. I don't believe that the system is infallible or that the death penalty is about justice. It's about revenge. Pure and simple.

Jeb Bush has appointed a four member panel to look into Angel Diaz's execution. Diaz's death clearly violated the eighth amendment.


The intercom clicked off at 6:02 p.m. Normally, the condemned inmate stops moving within a few minutes and they are pronounced dead within 15 minutes.


But Diaz kept moving for 24 minutes, sometimes appearing in pain. He grimaced, coughed, tried to talk and licked his lips. His head eventually slipped to the right, but he kept breathing heavy, his chin bobbing and his mouth flexing like a fish out of water.


It wasn't until 6:26 p.m. that he stopped moving. He was pronounced dead 10 minutes later.


The state is attempted to spin Diaz's slow death as his liver disease, making the first shot less potent.


"If anything, it would make you more susceptible to it, not more resistant," said Dr. David Varlotta, a Tampa anesthesiologist.


That's as lame as the sickle cell trait excuse for Martin Anderson's death.

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