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Child Killer's Smooth Execution Makes Others More Likely

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 5, 2008

JACKSONVILLE - JACKSONVILLE - Eighteen months after Florida botched its last execution, its new lethal injection procedures resulted in what appeared to be a smooth and peaceful death Tuesday for child killer Mark Dean Schwab.

Although the new procedures may allow Florida to begin ramping up executions, the lessons won't necessarily apply to other states - such as Alabama, Ohio and Tennessee - that still face various legal challenges to their lethal injection methods.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has indicated he plans to resume signing death warrants.

"I think we have 387, the last count that I saw, that remain on death row. A lot of people are waiting for justice to be done," Crist said Wednesday.

Peter Cannon, Schwab's state-paid attorney, also predicted an increase.

Schwab's "execution will undoubtedly lead to the signing of more death warrants," he said last week. "With 18 months' delay, many cases have worked their way through the system, resulting in many inmates becoming warrant-eligible."

After the botched execution of Angel Diaz in December 2006, then-Gov. Jeb Bush appointed a commission to investigate. As a result, Florida corrections officials changed the state's death chamber protocols.

In a newly remodeled death chamber at Florida State Prison, the executioner was able to watch Schwab's face and his two arms on television cameras.

A warden checked to ensure that Schwab was unconscious after the first chemical, sodium pentothal, was injected. It took 12 minutes for Schwab to die, compared with 34 for Diaz. In the Diaz execution, the medical examiner determined that needles had punctured his veins, causing the deadly chemicals to push into his muscles, prolonging his life and causing severe chemical burns.

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