In February, they visited Huntsville to attend the punishment of Adolph Hernandez and carefully note how the nation s busiest execution chamber carries out the business of death. It is not always silent. It is not always merely going to sleep like Dowthitt. Ultimately, the Texas experience has shown the condemned person s eyes can reveal his final thoughts. For McVeigh, that means his eyes may disclose whether he views himself as a frightened victim, a heartless killer, or a martyr in a personal war against the government, which is using the Texas blueprint to kill him.
Most inmates are cooperative.
Gary Graham was not. Graham s claims of innocence and an unfair trial became an issue in the presidential campaign of then-Gov. George W. Bush. Corrections officers, working as an extraction team, hit him with pepper spray, burning his eyes and lowering his defenses. Less than a minute later, a tie-down team secured him to the gurney.