Lethal Injection

EVERY DAY, some junkie dies from a heroin overdose. This drug is considered the ultimate analgesic - overdose victims don't cry out in pain before their lights go out. A few years ago, the scourge of a deadly heroin/fentanyl mix fueled an OD epidemic across the nation. The blend's lethal effectiveness greatly enhanced its reputation on the streets, increasing the addicts' desire for it. Lately, there's been a focus on whether convicts feel pain during lethal injection. If a court ordered an execution using heroin/fentanyl, the result would be a death penalty quite the opposite of the "cruel and unusual" punishment our Constitution says can't be inflicted on the condemned.

The state Senate yesterday voted to replace hanging with lethal injection as Delaware's official method of execution, a move that the bill's sponsor said should make it easier to obtain convictions in capital-murder cases. The legislation, which was amended by the Senate, now goes to the House, where it is expected to win approval easily. The House passed an unamended version of the bill last year. Senate Majority Leader Thomas B. Sharp (D., Pinecrest), the sponsor, said he hoped the legislation would prevent defense attorneys from drawing sympathy from jurors in capital-punishment trials by graphically describing the stages of death by hanging.

Lethal injection would replace the electric chair as the instrument used to carry out the death penalty in Pennsylvania under a measure passed by the Senate yesterday. The bill, which would effectively dismantle the electric chair that has been used at Rockview State Prison 350 times since 1915, was passed by the Senate, 36-11, after a brief debate. The measure now goes to the House, where Judiciary Committee Chairman William DeWeese (D., Greene) said he probably would delay a vote until the fall to give members time to cool off over the slaying in Harrisburg last week of Rep. William Telek (R., Cambria)

Gov. Casey yesterday signed into law a dozen bills passed by the General Assembly toward the conclusion of its 1989-90 session, including a measure replacing the electric chair with lethal injection as the means of execution in the state. Benjamin Livingood, a spokesman for the state Corrections Department, said the state's electric chair, kept at the state prison in Rockview and used for 350 executions between 1915 and 1962, would be dismantled. There has not been an execution in Pennsylvania since 1962.

The House gave final legislative approval yesterday to a bill that would replace the state's electric chair - used to kill 350 convicted murderers since 1915 - and make lethal injection the means of execution in Pennsylvania. The legislation passed by a vote of 170-21 over the objections of legal and religious groups that disputed claims that the use of drugs - specifically an ultrashort-acting barbiturate and a paralytic agent - to induce death is more humane. It appeared likely Gov. Casey would sign the bill, which was passed easily by the Senate in April.

To a casual observer, the narrow road leading to a tan trailer on the grounds of the Delaware Correctional Center here continues past the trailer and toward the main prison compound. But for Delaware's six death-row inmates, the road may end at the trailer, which houses the state's brand-new lethal-injection machine. Situated about 10 feet from the prison's isolated maximum-security building, the aluminum-sided 14-by-50-foot trailer gives no external clue to its purpose. Inside, however, against stark white walls, a computerized machine with a control panel of switches and multicolored lights stands ready to regulate and track the injection of three deadly chemicals into the veins of a condemned inmate.

A New Jersey appellate court yesterday ordered a halt to executions while the state explains why its lethal-injection procedures are not "arbitrary and unreasonable. " There are no executions imminent, and the three-judge panel clearly stated that it was not addressing the constitutionality of capital punishment. The death penalty in New Jersey was reinstituted in 1982, but the state has not executed an inmate since 1963. Still, the decision - focused on whether the effects of a lethal injection could be reversed in case of a last-second stay - was hailed as a landmark by some legal experts.

The "House of Horrors" killer got his wish last night. Gary Heidnik was put to death by lethal injection at Rockview State Correctional Institution in Centre County. At 10:17 p.m., the cocktail of death began flowing into his veins as 12 witnesses and four women, relatives of Heidnik's victims, looked on. He was pronounced dead at 10:29 by Centre County Coroner Scott Sayers. The victims' relatives applauded when his death was announced over a speaker. One woman was heard to say, "Thank you, Jesus.

Opponents of the death penalty packed a state government hearing yesterday and voiced support for better media access at executions to increase public awareness of how a condemned prisoner is killed. The state Department of Corrections held the hearing to allow comment on two proposed rule revisions intended to address concerns raised by an appeals court nearly a year ago. A three-judge panel last February ordered a halt to executions while the state explained why its lethal-injection procedures were not "arbitrary and unreasonable.

"I have already killed three people, and I'm going to kill you. "You don't mean nothing to me. . . " Those were the words of Gary Graham, as attested by a 57-year-old woman on whom the future death-row inmate took pity, merely abducting, robbing and raping her, rather than taking her life. Bobby Grant Lambert was not so lucky. When he refused to blithely hand over his wallet to Graham one fateful day in May 1981, Graham put a gun to his cranium and blew him away. Last week in Huntsville, Texas, the convicted killer finally met his maker, in spite of the last-minute maneuverings of his lawyers.

DOVER, Del. - The Delaware Board of Pardons recommends that Gov. Jack Markell grant clemency to a man facing execution Friday for the 1990 murder of his former girlfriend. The state is scheduled to execute Robert Gattis, 49, by lethal injection, but the board announced Sunday it had voted, 4-1, to ask Markell to commute the sentence to life in prison without parole provided Gattis agrees to spend the rest of his life in prison and not seek further appeals or pardons. "The governor will consider the board's written decision and carefully review the case," Markell spokeswoman Cathy Rossi said.

OMAHA, Neb. - A Swiss pharmaceutical company is asking Nebraska officials to return a drug the state plans to use to execute death-row inmates. Earlier this month, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services announced it had obtained a new supply of sodium thiopental, one of three drugs needed to carry out executions by lethal injection, from the Swiss company Naari AG. The drug is no longer manufactured in the United States and is in scarce supply...

JACKSON, Ga. - Georgia executed Troy Davis Wednesday night for the murder of an off-duty police officer, a crime he denied committing right to the end as supporters around the world mourned and declared that an innocent man had been put to death. Defiant to the end, he told relatives of Mark MacPhail that his 1989 slaying was not his fault. "I did not have a gun," he insisted. "For those about to take my life," he told prison officials, "may God have mercy on your souls.

A GROUP of about 100 gathered in Center City last night, joining an international push against the execution of a Georgia cop- killer whose conviction has been called into question. The group gathered at 15th and Market streets to support Troy Davis, who was slated to be executed yesterday for killing a police officer in Savannah, Ga., in 1989. It was to no avail. CNN reported that Davis was executed at 11:08 p.m., about an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a last-ditch appeal.

JACKSON, Ga. - A Georgia man convicted of killing his parents and sister was executed yesterday after the courts allowed what was likely the nation's first video-recorded execution in almost two decades. Andrew DeYoung, 37, was put to death by lethal injection last night at the state prison in Jackson after courts turned down his appeals. He was pronounced dead at 8:04 p.m. DeYoung blinked his eyes and swallowed for about two minutes, then his eyes closed and he became still.

LONDON - Britain said Thursday that it would block the export of three lethal-injection drugs to the United States and also urged a Europe-wide ban on American sales of the drugs, while Denmark said it would urge U.S. states not to use a drug that is also made by a Danish firm. Business Secretary Vince Cable said that a block on exports of pentobarbital, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride would be formalized in a few days. In November, Britain blocked exports of the sedative sodium thiopental for use in executions after a legal challenge from a human-rights group.

The nervous spectators in Courtroom 304 of the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center could only presume that all was solemn deliberation behind the closed door leading from the jury box. There, the Common Pleas Court jury of eight women and four men, winnowed down over three weeks from about 500 prospective jurors, considered the fate of Rasheed Scrugs, the admitted killer of Police Officer John Pawlowski. In that room, solemnity had little to do with what was going on. Juror Fred Kiehm, 49, described the atmosphere as "horrible.

After a long, emotional day of arguments for and against the death penalty, a Philadelphia jury is to resume deliberations Wednesday in the case of Laquaille Bryant, accused of the 2008 contract murders of federally protected witness Chante Wright and her friend Octavia Green. The Common Pleas Court jury of nine women and three men deliberated about two hours Tuesday on a penalty for Bryant, 28, of South Philadelphia, before going home. The jury must decide if Bryant should be executed by lethal injection or spend life in prison without parole.

LAST week, I interviewed a guy who told me who would win the top three individual Oscars, and in the remaining big four individual categories, he correctly narrowed the field to two. How did he do it? He analyzed the nominees according to the criteria that have dictated recent Oscar history. In a word, you have to be edgy. Jacob Bernstein, senior reporter for TheDailyBeast.com, correctly predicted that Jeff Bridges, Christoph Waltz and Mo'Nique would earn the statuettes, and narrowed the best actress field down to Meryl Streep and eventual winner Sandra Bullock.

A version of this review was published yesterday. There's a lot of scary stuff going on in Law Abiding Citizen, the Philadelphia-made criminal-justice revenge thriller starring Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx, but the scariest thing of all might be an idea that comes from the mayor's office. A jailed psychopath is orchestrating the murders of city officials, a judge, and members of the district attorney's office. Cars and cell phones are blowing up, the public is in a panic. And so, the understandably ill-tempered mayor (a sharp-suited Viola Davis)