Though most experts refuse to predict the Court's ultimate decision, they are divided over how the high court will examine the issues raised by the electric chair. But all seem to agree that the fate of the chair depends on the justices' individual standards of decency. A few months after his execution, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the use of the electric chair, ruling for the third time in a decade that electrocution is both a humane and painless method of execution. However, Florida Justice Leander J. Shaw Jr. dissented, posting graphic pictures depicting scenes from Davis' execution on the court's web site. But, as Justice Shaw's dissent illustrates, not everyone's yardstick is the same.
Electrocution is supposed to be quick and relatively painless.
According to Dr. John Wikswo, a physics professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, it is not clear whether the bleeding sustained in Davis' execution is common or not. Nor is there any scientific basis that electrocution is either quick or painless. Wikswo, who testified in Florida last July in a separate hearing, said the body's nerves are stimulated during electrocution. The muscles contract painfully, and breathing ceases. The current also causes burns and loss of consciousness, though it is not known at what point unconsciousness actually occurs.