A Mexican had to sign a confession written in English, a language he did not understand. At Huntsville, executions follow an unchanging ritual. In the presence of ten witnesses, five journalists and a priest installed in neighboring rooms with windows, the prisoner is strapped to a table, put on an IV solution. He utters his last words. In another room, behind a one-way mirror, the executioner, an anonymous volunteer, injects the chemical solution which puts the condemned person to sleep, blocks his breathing and stops his heart.
Death follows in six to seven minutes.
For Joseph Faulder, the execution has even been stayed nine times a few minutes before it was to be carried out. It is not justice, it is vengeance. It is the absurd eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. It does not deter crime, otherwise murders would long ago have ceased in Texas where executions have become common. It accentuates social and racial inequalities.