Flames erupted during the 1990 execution of cop- killer Jesse Tafero because of a faulty sponge in the headgear. All this has prompted debate about whether death by electrocution amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Experts have assured the state that neither Medina nor Tafero was conscious and in pain from the flames, because the chair sends an immediate and powerful surge of electricity through the condemned man's brain. Of course, no one knows for sure what the executed individual experiences because none has lived to talk about it. That's as it should be.
Capital punishment is supposed to be swift and certain, leaving no room for error.
State Rep. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, heads the House Justice Council. He says legislators worry that switching methods of execution will fuel a round of appeals on behalf of the 300 or so inmates on death row, slowing. This newspaper has long supported a thorough-going appeals process for the condemned, because it would be the worst form of iniquity for the state to take the life of an innocent person. In addition, such a blunder could well shatter public support for capital punishment. Still, it is hard to imagine what sort of argument a lawyer might devise to avoid execution because the state switched from the electric chair to lethal injection.