Obama Balks On Issue Of Death Penalty While US Supreme Court Considers Arguments On Lethal Injections

United States President Barack Obama’s last year’s initiative to abandon death penalty never gained momentum after review of the capital punishment by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. resulted in mixed reactions. According to Holder, an imminent reality would occur should moratorium on death penalty be implemented — it would eliminate execution in terrorism cases and other heinous crimes such as rape and murder, something that would spark further criticisms.

President Obama, a staunch supporter of death penalty, began to raise concerns on the risk of executing innocent people and racial disparities that come with it. During the review inside the Judicial Department, the proponents for imposing moratorium on federal death penalty argued that medical experts could not assure the lethal drugs administered to death row convicts would not give horrible suffering.

Meanwhile, administration officials and advocates of death penalty questioned Obama’s intention in abandoning death penalty. They asked whether Obama would commute the execution of men who raped and killed people. No answers were given and Obama never pushed his plan.

Supreme Court Hears Arguments On Lethal Injection

Talks on the capital punishment took another turn as the U.S.’s Supreme Court entertained on Wednesday, April 29 arguments on the constitutionality of lethal injection. Following the bungled execution of Clayton D. Lockett on April 29, 2014 in Oklahoma, three more death row convicts in Oklahoma, who are about to face execution, sought to overturn prior Supreme Court’s ruling allowing the administration of drugs in execution.

They contended that midazolam, a sedative involved in three lengthened and painful executions in 2014, could not be reliable in putting them in a deep state of unconsciousness before they would be injected with other extremely painful drugs. Most of the time was spent with both sides arguing on the effects of midazolam, each accusing the other of misrepresentation of the drug’s medical literature.

Some conservative justices raised doubt on the substance of evidence presented that would permit a reversal. More importantly, they expressed vexation on the scarcity of more proven drugs that according to the justices, were caused by those who oppose the death penalty.

The liberal justices sided the prisoner’s view: “Suppose that we said we’re going to burn you at stake, but before we do, we’re going to use an anaesthetic of completely unknown properties and unknown effects,” lamented Justice Kagan, elaborating that the effect of administering potassium chloride — which is among the drugs injected to death row convicts in Oklahoma — is tantamount to “being burned alive from the inside.”

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Earlier reports said Lockett squirmed in pain, regained consciousness and muttered in audible voice before finally yielding to a painful heart attack. Lockett’s fate compelled Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin to signed into law gas execution as among the choices given to death row convicts.

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