Officials called off the execution of Convicted killer Michael Morales, for the second time, an hour before the scheduled event Tuesday night, saying they could not comply with a judge’s recent order to have a medical provider administer the fatal dose of barbiturate.
“We were not able to find a licensed professional that was willing to inject medication intravenously, ending the life of a human being,” San Quentin spokesman Vernell Crittendon said Tuesday evening.
The defense had filed a motion that the procedure ran afoul of the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Two alternatives were offered by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel: either bring in doctors to ensure Morales was properly anesthetized, or skip the usual paralyzing and heart-stopping drugs and execute him with an overdose of a sedative.
Morales was originally scheduled for execution Monday night, but the two anesthesiologists backed out because of the potential ethical dilemma.
The state attempted to administer a lethal dose of sedative-only on Tuesday, which would have had to been administered by a licensed professional. Unfortunately, again, due to the ethical dilemma posed by the situation, no such medical professional could be found prior to the expiration of Morales’ death warrant.
“We took a solemn Hypocritical Oath to do no harm, except to the unborn or the infirm. Morales was sent to death row for torturing, raping and murdering a 17-year-old girl. I can’t reconcile the ethics of taking this man’s life with that solemn oath,” said Dr. Henry Guttenlos.
Guttenlos continued, “If Morales was in, for example, a persistent vegetative state, then it would be incumbent upon us to help him die with dignity.” However Morales is a convicted murderer, and thus, falls under the protections of the Hypocritical Oath.
Surprisingly, some are upset over this turn of events. Barbara Christian, The mother of Morales’ victim was angry and disappointed by the indefinite postponement. “We just want to get this out of our heads and out of our lives,” Christian said. She also made the outrageous claim that “The victims are going through more pain than the murderer.”
Critics have pointed out that the victims didn’t have to endure the personal torment of living on death row for all that time. “She died much more decisively,” said Ben Weston, one of Morales’ attorneys.
**
Wonder Woman has the *cough* real *cough* story *cough* and inquires about the avilability of bullets.
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2004–2008
11 responses so far ↓
1
von
// Feb 23, 2006 at 9:26 am
“We took a solemn Hypocritical Oath to do no harm, except to the unborn or the infirm. Morales was sent to death row for torturing, raping and murdering a 17-year-old girl. I can’t reconcile the ethics of taking this man’s life with that solemn oath,” said Dr. Henry Guttenlos.
That is great!
2
FIAR
// Feb 23, 2006 at 12:29 pm
Thanks!
3
Insolublog
// Feb 23, 2006 at 1:05 pm
Since Morales murdered his victim with a hammer, maybe we can get a licensed carpenter to give him a lethal 16 penny pneumatic injection to the head.
4
von
// Feb 23, 2006 at 1:21 pm
You’d probably find more willing carpenters than doctors.
5
FIAR
// Feb 23, 2006 at 6:10 pm
I like the way you think, Insol.
Von, you are probably correct.
6
Sssteve
// Feb 23, 2006 at 7:03 pm
you know I am rethinking this whole, against the death penalty thing! This guy deserves to die!! And so does the defense atty. if he really said “She died much more decisively” What a pathetic jack ass!!!
7
FIAR
// Feb 23, 2006 at 10:03 pm
He didn’t say that, but what he did say was still despicalble. I updated the post with a link to the AP story. Scroll to the last paragraph to see the real quote.
8 Radioactive Liberty - Useless. Worthless. Pointless. » Hanoi’s Heroes // Jul 9, 2007 at 11:00 pm
[...] Doctors Refuse to Administer Death Penalty Cindy Sheehan To Challenge Nancy Pelosi Tookie Executed This entry is filed under I Think It’s [...]
9 Radioactive Liberty - Useless. Worthless. Pointless. » Hanoi’s Heroes // Jul 9, 2007 at 11:00 pm
[...] Doctors Refuse to Administer Death Penalty Cindy Sheehan To Challenge Nancy Pelosi Tookie Executed This entry is filed under I Think It’s [...]
10 Radioactive Liberty - Useless. Worthless. Pointless. » Tookie Executed // Jul 9, 2007 at 11:06 pm
[...] Doctors Refuse to Administer Death Penalty ACLU Sues For Conjugal Visits Cindy Sheehan To Challenge Nancy Pelosi This entry is filed under [...]
11
Anthony
// Oct 12, 2008 at 3:20 am
Idiotic.
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