April 21 ARIZONA: Innocent inmate awaits freedom Clarence David Hill is an innocent man, but not quite a free man - yet. He spent 15 years on Arizona's death row for a crime he didn't commit. Sound familiar? The story is more than a decade in the making and follows in the footsteps of another high-profile case that was recently overturned. Ray Krone spent 10 years on Arizona's death row. Not once, but twice, he was wrongfully convicted of murder. This past year, DNA evidence proved he was not responsible for the death of Kim Acona. Krone, once known as the "snaggletooth killer," was released and awarded $1.4 million, most of which he used to pay off legal fees. In the process, he underwent a complete makeover and now he's not afraid to smile. One day soon, Clarence Hill hopes to be smiling, also. After 15 years on death row for a murder conviction in 1989, recent DNA evidence proved that he was not responsible for the death of his landlord, whose burned body was found in the Mohave Desert. His legal team presented DNA material and Judge Richard Weiss overturned his first-degree murder conviction, so legally Hill is an innocent man. However, he still remains imprisoned in Kingman. The attorneys for Hill have filed an immediate motion for his release. They hope it will come some time this week or early next. There is no word yet on whether the state will file an appeal or ask for a new trial. (source: FOX11 News) KENTUCKY: Experts testify against lethal injection in state----Testimony comes in Ky. inmates' suit An animal medicine expert testified yesterday that veterinarians are barred from euthanizing animals the way Kentucky executes inmates because the animals might remain conscious enough to feel pain. The testimony from the expert, Dr. Dennis Geiser, a veterinary medicine professor at the University of Tennessee, came on the 3rd day of a trial in which 2 death-row inmates are challenging Kentucky's use of lethal injection. Geiser said state law and industry ethical guidelines prohibit veterinarians from using a drug to paralyze an animal being euthanized because it would mask "pain and suffering." Public defenders representing the death-row inmates contend Kentucky's method could leave an inmate conscious but paralyzed as a caustic solution of potassium chloride is administered to cause heart failure. Kentucky uses a three-step series of drugs, the first to anesthetize the inmate, the second to paralyze him and the third to stop his heart. Public defenders contend that because the anesthetic -- designed to render the inmate unconscious -- is short-acting, there is no way to know if the anesthesia has worn off after the inmate is paralyzed. Jeff Middendorf, general counsel for the state Corrections Department, dismissed those claims in opening statements Monday, saying the state's procedure keeps the inmate unconscious until he dies. Method developed in 1970s Kentucky corrections officials testified earlier this week that they developed the procedure based on those used by other states and that the procedures date to the late 1970s. Oklahoma devised the first method for lethal injection. Kentucky's lethal injection protocol was developed after lawmakers in 1998 designated lethal injection, rather than the electric chair, for executions. Only 1 inmate, Eddie Lee Harper, has been executed by lethal injection. That was in 1999. Testimony yesterday came on behalf of death-row inmates Thomas Clyde Bowling Jr., 52, convicted of the 1990 murders of a Lexington couple; and Ralph Baze, 49, convicted of the 1992 slayings of the Powell County sheriff and a deputy. They are represented by 3 lawyers from the state Department of Public Advocacy. The brother and sister of late Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett attended the court proceeding yesterday. They said they had little patience for what they see as a delaying tactic by Baze to avoid execution. "If this method is painful, why don't we just go ahead and shoot them?" asked Orville Bennett of Lee County. "He let my own brother die in his own blood on the floorboard," said Jean Barnett of Powell County. Steve Bennett died in his cruiser after he and deputy Arthur Briscoe attempted to arrest Baze. Choice of drugs 'bizarre' Before Geiser took the stand, the state objected to allowing his testimony because it relates to animals and not people. But Franklin Circuit Judge Roger Crittenden, who is hearing the case without a jury, agreed to hear Geiser by avowal, which means the judge will not give the testimony consideration in reaching a decision but said it could be given for the record in case of an appeal. Dr. Mark Heath, a Columbia University anesthesiologist who euthanizes animals in research, also testified that he is forbidden by federal rules from using a paralyzing agent to kill animals. "No one would ever do that unless they wanted to be cruel to the animal," he said. Heath said he views the three drugs that Kentucky and most other states use for lethal injection as "a very bizarre choice or selection of drugs." He said he sees no purpose for the paralyzing drug in executions. It generally is used in surgery for only special cases to keep a patient motionless, he said. Heath testified that patients in surgery sometimes awaken while under anesthesia. But if they have been paralyzed, only a trained anesthesiologist could detect whether the patients were conscious, he said. "If the patient is not paralyzed, they'll jump off the table and scream," he said. Heath also said the anesthetic Kentucky uses is rarely used in operating rooms any more and has been replaced by newer and better drugs. "There are drugs that could replace all the drugs that are being used that carry a much lower risk of pain and suffering," Heath said. But under questioning from the judge, he said ethical guidelines probably bar him or any other physician from recommending alternatives because American Medical Association guidelines forbid doctors from participating in or assisting in executions. Inmates likely unconscious If an inmate were conscious during an execution by lethal injection, it would cause an extremely painful death, Heath said. The inmate would begin to suffocate, because the drug that paralyzes him stops him from breathing, and then he would feel a burning sensation from the drug to stop his heart, Heath said. "It would be agony," he said. "Along with that would be terror." Observers would be unable to detect any suffering because the inmate is paralyzed, he said. But Heath testified under cross-examination that the large dose of anesthetic that Kentucky uses in executions would probably render an inmate unconscious by the time the final two drugs are administered. Patient was awake One other witness yesterday testified about the horror of being awake during surgery. Because she was paralyzed by a drug, she was unable to communicate that to her doctors. The witness, Carol Weihrer of Reston, Va., testified that she awoke during a five-hour surgery on her eye in 1998. "It's the most horrifying experience," she said. Weihrer has founded an organization called the Anesthesia Awareness Campaign to educate others about the problem. Public defenders expect to finish presenting their case tomorrow. The Corrections Department is scheduled to open its case May 2. (source: The Courier-Journal)
