Скачать или смотреть Florida stops executions after botched injection

(16 Dec 2006) SHOTLIST
1. STILL photograph of Angel Nieves Diaz, convicted murderer
2. Diaz file on computer screen
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Larry Spalding, American Civil Liberties Union:
"We went through the same type of thing when we had the electric chair where we knew there were serious flaws and we started having problem after problem. There's no guarantee if we had another execution in a few weeks that the same problem won't repeat itself."
4. STILL photograph of Diaz
5. Wide shot of gurney (stretcher)
6. Wide shot of death chamber
7. Close up of mirror
STORYLINE:
Florida Governor Jeb Bush put a temporary halt to executions in Florida on Friday after a botched lethal injection procedure involving death row inmate Angel Nieves Diaz this week.
Officials improperly inserted needles carrying the lethal chemicals, according to a medical examiner.
The medical examiner said needles pierced both veins and then went through into soft tissue in Diaz's arms.
He also said the execution took 34 minutes and required an extra dose of chemicals to complete. Normal executions take about 15 minutes.
Florida corrections officials blamed liver disease, saying that adds to the time it took for his body to metabolise the lethal drugs. The medical examiner said Diaz had hepatitis, but his liver appeared normal.
The medical examiner said he also found foot-long (300 millimetres) chemical burns on Diaz's arms. Witnesses said Diaz grimaced and tried to mouth words during the execution.
The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty said Florida's death penalty system is broken.
And Larry Spalding, American Civil Liberties Union, said there are 'serious flaws' in the procedure.
"We went through the same type of thing when we had the electric chair where we knew there were serious flaws and we started having problem after problem", he said, adding "There's no guarantee if we had another execution in a few weeks that the same problem won't repeat itself."
Diaz, 55, was put to death for murdering the manager of a Miami topless bar during a holdup in 1979.
Bush has set up a commission to review lethal injection procedures and he says he won't sign death warrants until the panel completes its report.
Florida got rid of the electric chair after two inmates' heads caught fire during executions in the 1990s and another suffered a severe nosebleed in 2000. Lethal injection was portrayed as a more humane and more reliable process.
20 people have been executed by lethal injection in Florida since the state switched from the electric chair in 2000.

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