Some prison officials said the idea was simply to carry out the execution as soon as possible on the execution date set by the court. Others said the reason was to reduce the risk of inmate disturbances and large protests. Midnight executions gave rise to the Hollywood image of the lights flickering in the cellblock, striking fear in the other prisoners, when someone dies in the electric chair. Whatever the reason, more and more midnight executions began to take their toll. Before the time change, Nunnelee said, he would be awake as late as 6 a.m. and still have to be at work at 8 a.m.
Some states have no plans to switch to daytime executions.
In Nevada, holding executions by injection just after midnight frees more employees to help with the process, said prison spokesman Glen Whorton. Changing the time of execution will not stop last-minute appeals, however, said Aaron Caplan, one Woratzeck's lawyers. Now that we have fax machines and e-mail, it allows us to scramble around and do things at the last minute. About the only difference with 5 p.m. is, once the flurry is over, the restaurants are still open.