Opinion ID: 1912613
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 30

Heading: Nebraska Statutes Require a Continuous Electric Current but Fail to Specify Its Strength or Force

Text: In 2000, the district court determined, in part, that the State's 1994 electrocution protocol did not comply with § 29-2532 because the current was not continuous. This order was part of the record in Mata I. Section 29-2532 provides in part that [t]he mode of inflicting the punishment of death, in all cases, shall be by causing to pass through the body of the convicted person a current of electricity of sufficient intensity to cause death; and the application of such current shall be continued until such convicted person is dead. The 1994 protocol required prison officials to apply two 30-second sequences of electric current for a 155-pound person, with a 20-second pause in between shocks. In each sequence, the protocol called for officials to apply 2,450 volts for 8 seconds, followed by 480 volts for 22 seconds. In the 1990's, prison officials applied four sequences of current to electrocute three prisoners. In response to the district court's order, prison officials changed the protocol in 2004. The new protocol is also standardized to a 155-pound person. But the new protocol requires prison officials to apply 2,450 volts of electric current in one 15-second continuous application. The exact strength of the current is unknown. The protocol does not specify the amperage, which is the measure of electrical energy in a current. A retired prison administrator who developed the original protocol in the 1980's testified that he had an ammeter installed. He explained that he did this because the risk of fire from the sponges drying out increases if 8 to 10 amperes are applied for too long. He stated that the State uses 6 to 8 amperes and no more than 10. But the executing official for the 1990 electrocutions believed the ammeter simply showed the system was working within the correct range. He did not recall the amperage used or watch the voltage meter during the 1990 electrocutions. During electrocutions, prison officials do not record the amperage or voltage or use a regulator to ensure that the voltage does not drop below the required amount. The strength of an electric current flowing through a conductor can be calculated if the voltage and a conductor's resistance to a current are known. But as the district court noted, experts do not agree on the human body's resistance as a conductor. Ronald K. Wright, M.D., the certified pathologist who recommended the State's 2004 protocol, testified that it would be unethical for physicians to make these determinations and that states do not measure the voltage exiting a prisoner's body during an electrocution. Because he had to rely on medical journals from the 1890's, he did not know whether a prisoner's size or height would affect the body's resistance. Because there has never been monitoring, the strength of the current flowing through a prisoner's body in Nebraska electrocutions is unknown. This evidence supports the district court's finding that the effect of electric current in a prisoner's body cannot be predicted.