this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2024
228 points (97.9% liked)

News

23260 readers
3936 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Alan Miller shook and trembled on gurney after becoming second person to be executed by controversial technique

Alabama has carried out the second execution in the US using the controversial method of nitrogen gas, an experimental technique for humans that veterinarians have deemed unacceptable in the US and Europe for the euthanasia of most animals.

Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was pronounced dead on Thursday evening at a south Alabama prison. The lethal method involves being strapped to a gurney, where a respirator mask is applied to the face and pure nitrogen piped in. The resulting oxygen deprivation will cause death by asphyxia.

Miller shook and trembled on the gurney for about two minutes with his body at times pulling against the restraints, followed by about six minutes of gasping breathing, according to the Associated Press.

Miller’s death is the latest in an extraordinary week in the US in which five condemned men in five states are set to be killed over six days. Three prisoners have already been executed – on Friday South Carolina killed Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah in its first execution in 13 years, then on Tuesday Texas killed Travis Mullis and Missouri put to death Marcellus Williams.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Nitrogen asphyxiation may not be unpleasant, but being executed certainly causes duress.

If the method of execution takes 8 minutes, and makes you "loopy" during that time, while contemplating your impending death, then that's cruel in my opinion.

In my opinion, if you're going to execute someone then brevity and certainty must surely be required to make it humane.

Imagine them hanging you upside down trying to find a vein for legal injection and being unable to do so for 2 hours. A firing squad would be better in many ways.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Firstly, death causes twitching. And it's not fucking pretty. Most animals, humans included, have a very wide array of stuff that their body does even after they are fully unconscious. It's not at all surprising that bystanders were freaked out, even in ideal circumstances.

You should really look into apoxia. When done right (and I'm not arguing that the execution in the article was done right), it's a minute, maybe two. And that's probably less time than you'd spend on a firing line.

The reality is that there simply is no "perfect" way to kill someone who doesn't want to die. We could give them a choice, possibly, but will they even choose?

Nitrogen asphyxiation, done right, is humane. There is no pain. But one way or the other, the person's gonna know it's happening, no matter the method used to execute them.

Again, none of this is to condone execution as a consequence of crime. I don't think the state is qualified to make the call.