June-July 97

PEDRO MEDINA IS EXECUTED
"HE WAS BURNING ALIVE"

FOOT-LONG FLAMES SHOT OUT OF HIS HEAD DURING EXECUTION


by Kirstin Roberts

Starke, Florida--Officials at the Florida State Prison on March 24 strapped Pedro Medina into an electric chair nicknamed "Old Sparky," sent 2,000 volts of electricity into his body and watched as 12-inch long flames shot out from his face and head.

"It was brutal, terrible," said Michael Minerva, Medina's lawyer and an anti-death penalty activist who witnessed the gruesome killing. "It was a burning alive, literally."

Blue and orange fames shot from Medina's head and burned for up to 10 seconds, filling the execution chamber with smoke. The smell of burnt flesh filled the witness room.

Under pressure from the public outcry that followed, Gov. Lawton Chiles asked for a review of the state's execution procedures. But state officials tried to claim that Medina suffered no pain when his face caught on fire.

"Old Sparky" does its job fine, according to state Attorney General Bob Butterworth. "People who wish to commit murder, they better not do it in the state of Florida because we may have a problem with our electric chair," Butterworth bragged to reporters.

Three Jolts
Gruesome executions are not new in Florida or elsewhere. In 1990, when Florida killed Jesse Tafero, six-inch flames erupted from his head when the electricity was turned on. It took a total of three jolts of electricity to stop Tafero's breathing.

Lethal injection, which is viewed as a more "humane" way to kill, is equally barbaric. In 1992, it took Arkansas prison officials almost an hour to find a suitable vein on Rickey Ray Vector, a mentally retarded inmate, to administer the lethal injection. Though they weren't allowed to view the scene, witnesses could hear Vector's moans and screams throughout the ordeal.

"The horror becomes more of a horror," Lorry Post, a New Jersey anti-death penalty activist, said of Medina's execution. "If it were nice and clean and antiseptic, it wouldn't come to people's attention. People are noticing. Even before his execution, scores of people, including Pope John Paul II, spoke out and organized against the killing of Medina, a mentally ill Cuban refugee. Lindi James, the daughter of the woman Medina was convicted of killing, was also active on his behalf. James said she believed Medina was innocent of the killing and that her mother would have opposed the execution in any case.

Medina's last words before being strapped into the electric chair were "I'm still innocent."

Saved in time to be killed

Texas death-row prisoner David Lee Herman was rushed to the hospital April 1 after he slashed his wrists and throat with a razor blade. Doctors saved Herman's life--just in time for his execution in the electric chair two days later on April 3.

This is not the first time prison officials have saved the life of a person they're about to kill.

In 1995, an Oklahoma inmate was rushed to the hospital to have his stomach pumped after overdosing on lethal drugs. Doctors worked quickly enough so that prison officials could execute him the same evening.

--The Medina reports on this page are from Socialist Worker, April 11, 1997

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