Inmate executed using new drug protocol

[The Straight Story]

Inmate executed using new drug protocol


LUCASVILLE, Ohio, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Kenneth Biros Tuesday became the first U.S. inmate executed under a new one-drug lethal injection protocol, Ohio officials said.

Southern Ohio Correctional Facility officials said Biros, 51, died at 11:47 a.m. in the death house of the prison located near Lucasville, Ohio, after he was injected with single, large dose of the powerful anesthetic thiopental sodium, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

Before he died, Biros reportedly said, "Now I am paroled to my Father in heaven, and I will spend all my holidays with my Lord and Savior. Peace be with you."

Biros was convicted of killing and dismembering Tami Engstorm, 22, in 1991.

His lawyers had appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court after federal Judge Gregory Frost Monday refused to halt the execution because of the new injection protocol.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/12/08/Inmate-executed-using-new-drug-protocol/UPI-79461260296666/

[RoadRage]

1. Good.

I'm not a anti-death penalty Liberal. What this guy did to that woman was horrific... I'll spend my time weeping for her family, and not for her murderer.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

7. But aren't you just a wee bit bothered that he may have died without pain? -nt

[RoadRage]

20. Nope.

I'm content to know that he is no longer alive to torment anyone else.. either pysically or possible mentally (although some victims don't get the peace that they hope for even after the person responsible for the crime is put to death).

Again.. i'm not focused on the Murder and what pain he does or does not suffer.. i'm much more concerned about the family of the victim, and i'm bothered that they have to live the rest of their lives with immense emotional pain that was utterly unneccessary.

[ZombieHorde]

11. "I'll spend my time weeping for her family, and not for her murderer"

Really? How much time will you spend actually weeping for her family? Serious question.

[Divine Discontent]

14. exactly...

[RoadRage]

21. I read the news articles over the past couple of weeks..

And I feel enormous sorrow for the family of that victim. To find her "body parts" scattered all over the place, and to learn she was still alive through most of the stabbings? I feel for her first, and her family second. Do I need to give you an amount of time? Is an hour enough.. or does it need to be 12? Perhaps 24 solid hours?

There sure seem to be a lot on the left who are as equally hypocritical as those on the far right. We scream at far right zealots who try to make women feel guilty for "taking a life" via abortion, but yet, those on the far left want to make everyone feel guilty for not caring if a convicted murder is executed. How about we all just stop trying to make people feel guilty across the board, and focus on resolving issues. Like slowing down the rate of convicted murders? That way there will be less people to excecute.

[ZombieHorde]

30. "Is an hour enough.."

This is up to you. I asked because I am rarely moved to tears from reading about a horrific murder. I often feel a bit detached from the news I read, if I wasn't, I would cry all of the time. I am generally not moved to tears unless there is some horrific event happening, such as the new anti-gay laws in Uganda.

I am not trying to make you feel guilty for this murderer, I was just surprised you were weeping over the murder. I admit, I suspected you were exaggerating your emotional condition in your reply.

[RoadRage]

34. "weeping" is a figurative term.

I'm not literally crying - I'm merely sad about what that woman and her family had to go through because of the actions of the murderer. So, i'll worry about them, and not the killer. That's what I meant.

[ZombieHorde]

37. I understand you now. Thanks for the replies. nt

[goldcanyonaz]

23. Much more time than for his murdering ass.

[goldcanyonaz]

22. + 1,000,000,000

[Cirque du So-What]

2. The state has exacted its pound of flesh and the account is balanced

All is right with the world again :sarcasm:

Don't mind me; I'm always brimming with cynicism after the state carries out capital punishment.

[waterscalm]

3. Many believe in the Eye for an Eye dictum.

[sharp_stick]

10. That's true

too bad those folks never bother to read the latter half of that book they claim to believe in so much.

If the State wants to kill people I wish they would quit pretending their religious beliefs are what give them the right to do it.

[RaleighNCDUer]

33. Not realizing that 'eye for an eye' is a restriction, not a license.

Prior to that codification, a person might pay his life for an eye. Even into relatively recent times people were executed for petty theft.

'Eye for an eye' is a ruling that the punishment for a crime cannot exceed the crime itself - which always leaves the judgment open for mitigation, such as being INSANE.

Civilized people do not execute the mentally ill. Segregate them from society, maybe, to keep them from doing further harm, but do not execute them.

The guy who shoots someone taking money from the ATM is far more deserving of the death penalty than someone like this - this is only a reaction to how horrific the crime was. But some who kills with a simple shot to the back of the head, and does it for mere greed, is much more reprehensible than someone in the grip of psychosis.

[CoffeeCat]

4. what bothers me the most about this situation...

...is that a guy who murdered an innocent young woman, and then chopped her up--actually believes that he
is on his way to an eternal amusement park filled with joy, laughter and a supposed-God who thinks he's
just the most amazing person.

THAT makes me sick. This man should be suffering and he should have remorse. He should not be dying in
peace and looking forward to some wonderful forever-life.

Sure, he's most likely just dead right now--but it bothers me that so many of these types find solace in these
fantasies when their victims no longer feel anything and the victim's family and friends suffer for a lifetime.

I want these people to hurt and it's unfortunate that they escape mental accountability this way.

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. Isn't such a belief a clear indication that he is insane?

Should we be executing the insane?

[Zavulon]

29. If the insane are running around chopping people up,

I honestly have no problem with executing them. I used to be 100% against the death penalty until one case struck me as so horrific that I switched sides. Lately, more and more cases strike me as meriting execution, including Tami Engstrom's death.

[yodoobo]

8. He will get what he gets

First off I agree with what you wrote. We lost a family member to murder a few years ago and the unbalanced nature of the crime and punishment is something that we just can't reconcile.

If there is no afterlife, then he sure as hell isn't experiencing joy or anything. There is no justice and he's just as dead as his victim. Bleak but there is no reward for him.

On the other hand if he is going on to an eternal reward of joy and happiness provided by a power beyond our understanding and comprehension, then the reasons and why are also beyond our understanding and there isn't much point trying to understand it.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. That makes as much sense as lamenting that a hurricane isn't feeling remorse for those it killed.

When a person's mind is THAT fucked up, it's beyond... well, beyond anything. It's pointless to think as if you're still talking about a rational person.

[ZombieHorde]

12. How do you benefit from his suffering? nt

[CoffeeCat]

16. Interesting question...

When it comes down to it, I would not benefit from their suffering. If they were truly
repentant and they were suffering because they realized the hurt they had caused--I would
most likely have a great deal of empathy.

When it comes down to it, I am angered by their lack of awareness and by the solace
they get to feel. It's unfair--when they have left such a wake of destruction.

I'm disturbed by their lack of compassion and by their total lack of acknowledgment
of their offenses and the pain they have caused.

The last sentence he said--about going to be with God and spending a happy eternal life
was a parting shot, don't you think? He didn't say he was sorry. He didn't cry for
what he had done. He made sure everyone knew that he felt that he was off to better places.

This hooks into my own stuff, and the injustices I've experienced--and I'm well aware of that.

[Thickasabrick]

26. Buy why do you want him to hurt? Does it bring anybody back? What

would be the purpose?

[anonymous171]

28. A perfect God would be more than capable of forgiving such a heinous crime. nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

35. IOW, you want vengeance, not justice. nt

[CoffeeCat]

38. All I want....and this is very simple...

...is for this person to have ten seconds of complete awareness--where he feels the pain
he has caused and he understands how horrendous his actions were.

That's all I want.

I don't even want him killed. I'm against the death penalty. For the sake of the victims, I
just want this man to understand the suffering he has caused and to feel the heavy weight
of all of the pain he has caused.

I do not call that vengeance. At all.

Believing in an after-life, where he believes that he will live at peace, among the butterflies--is enabling him.
It's keeping his denial strong, and preventing him from any accountability. I think that's a complete shame.

[RaleighNCDUer]

40. That is just the point - if the guy is INSANE he cannot possibly

truely comprehend how horrific his actions were. He might have an intellectual understanding of it (I've heard nothing about his IQ level - also a factor in execution) but his mental illness, without which he would have not committed such a crime, prevents him from having any emotional understanding of it.

The way to bring him to that understanding is through years of mental health treatment and probably judicious medication. Not through execution.

If you really want him to have "ten seconds of complete awareness--where he feels the pain
he has caused and he understands how horrendous his actions were", you would be arguing emphatically against execution - because he wasn't going to get that ten seconds strapped to a gurney.

The so-called afterlife is just another symptom of his illness. A place where he'll spend his holidays with his lord and savior. His holidays? This guy is LOST in delusion. Does he think the afterlife will be him working as a checking clerk at K-Mart, with 10 paid holidays a year? He is a desperately sick person, who connects 'holiday' with 'good times', and knows that holidays are only occasional - his idea of heaven is occasional holidays.

How can you not pity him?

[951-Riverside]

5. "...I will spend all my holidays with my Lord and Savior. Peace be with you."

:puke:

Gee I wonder where his victim will be.

[Edweird]

13. I think the single drug method is reasonable.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

15. Oh boy! A new way to commit state sanctioned murder! Yippee!

:sarcasm:

[RedCappedBandit]

24. +1

[Owl]

17. Good. Why did it take 18 years?

[flvegan]

18. Three cheers for revenge!

He allegedly died slowly, so that will most certainly please some folks here.

[Nikki Stone1]

19. Many mentions of this @KNX radio. Do they want us to feel complicit?

?

[varelse]

25. The "new" drug doesn't cause pain or suffering

In fact, it probably eliminates fear, anxiety, and any other negative reactions to being executed.

Sodium thiopental, better known as Sodium Pentothal (a trademark of Abbott Laboratories), thiopental, thiopentone sodium, or trapanal, is a rapid-onset short-acting barbiturate general anaesthetic. Sodium thiopental is a depressant and is sometimes used during interrogations—not to cause pain (in fact, it may have just the opposite effect), but to weaken the resolve of the subject and make him or her more compliant to pressure.<3> Thiopental is a core medicine in the World Health Organization's "Essential Drugs List", which is a list of minimum medical needs for a basic health care system.<4>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_thiopental

If the state is going to kill people, on the whole I think I'd rather they did it this way.

[RaleighNCDUer]

36. Knowing what it is, and how it can be used, I've often wondered what

I may have said in operating room while going under general anesthesia. And I have often wondered why it hasn't been used for executions because I've always, in numerous surgeries, just slipped away and would not have known if I had not waked up. If anesthesia allowed me to tolerate the pain of scalpels chopping away at me, it would certainly let a person tolerate his heart stopping.

None of which lets me approve any more of state sanctioned murder.

[varelse]

39. Yes, I'm anti-death penalty as well

but if the state IS going to kill people, a strong sedative that does not cause pain or nausea in high doses would be preferable to any other method.

[anonymous171]

27. Another pitiful soul murdered by the state. nt

[proteus_lives]

31. You mistyped.

Another convicted murderer legally executed by the state.

The state showed him more mercy then he showed his victim.

[proteus_lives]

32. He got more mercy then Tami Engstorm.

I won't mourn a killer.