Opinion ID: 1912613
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 37

Heading: Evidence Shows Some Prisoners Still Alive

Text: The State does not conduct autopsies of electrocuted; prisoners to review the effects of electric current on the body or the condition of internal organs. But physicians were present at all of the electrocutions in Nebraska before 1994 and checked prisoners for signs of life. Nebraska electrocuted 15 men from 1920 to 1997. There are obviously no longer witnesses of the early executions, so we refer to newspaper accounts in those cases that are part of this record. The evidence shows that in three known executions, or 20 percent of the total, physicians or eyewitnesses reported that the prisoner was still breathing or alive after the initial application of current. The most dramatic account of a prisoner's being alive after the current was stopped involved almost the same voltage and length as are provided for in the 2004 protocol. In the 1929 electrocution discussed above, the executioner applied a current with 15 amperes and 2,300 volts for 19 seconds. After officials removed the straps, the physicians examined the prisoner. During the second physician's examination, the prisoner's chest moved, and [c]onvulsive heaving of the youth's chest and a deep throaty rattle soon gave evidence that [the prisoner] was still breathing. This movement continued at intervals that became shorter and shorter, followed by a throaty rattle like a deep snore that also continued at intervals. The physicians again listened for his heartbeat and signaled to the executioner to reapply the current. Furthermore, the evidence indicates that in the 1994 electrocution, the State applied 2,450 volts for 17 seconds and that the prisoner was still breathing afterward. As noted, the 1994 protocol required prison officials to apply two sequences of current: 2,450 volts for 8 seconds, followed by 480 volts for 22 seconds. However, the prison administrator who developed the 1994 protocol testified that; in 1994, he recommended officials apply the 2,450-volt current for 17 seconds instead of 8 seconds in the first sequence, because the prisoner weighed 212 pounds. He believed his recommendation was accepted. No other testimony refutes or confirms this alteration. But if true, in 1994, the State had to apply 2,450 volts for 2 seconds longer than the 15 seconds required by the 2004 protocol. An eyewitness testified that the prisoner appeared to be breathing after the executioner stopped the initial current and that she heard him make a low guttural growl near the end of the second jolt. As the district court noted, Nebraska is not unique in reports of prisoners breathing after the current is stopped. A defense expert, who had extensively reviewed eyewitness accounts of electrocutions in other states, testified that prisoners occasionally show signs of consciousness during an electrocution. For example, he stated that a second application of current was required in 15 percent of the electrocutions conducted in Virginia. He had also reviewed 15 narrated audiotapes of judicial electrocutions in Georgia. In two cases, there were signs of consciousness. One prisoner had a nervous tic and was bobbing his head when he was led into the death chamber. After the first current sequence, the officials noted that he was still breathing and then started to bob his head again. Similarly, defense experts testified that many reports exist of prisoners still breathing after the current is stopped. They also pointed out there are many examples of high voltage shock victims who survived. Those victims reported remaining conscious throughout the shock, even when their head is the point of contact with a high voltage current. Bennett testified that individuals had retained full consciousness about 50 percent of the time. Persons who survived these shocks reported excruciating pain. Defense experts do not believe that prisoners are rendered instantly unconscious in a judicial electrocution and that they suffer, similarly while conscious.