Opinion ID: 1697471
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Duration of Execution

Text: A second error problem in the execution process which Schwab alleges is the length of the execution process, which might lead to a lingering death. He cites to the deposition of Dr. Dershwitz, an expert for the State in the Lightbourne hearing, who has allegedly stated an execution should take 11 minutes, while Florida's average is 138 minutes. Schwab's claim is either that the drugs are being administered improperly or that the high dosage of sodium pentathol used by Florida actually slows down the process of death. Again, this is not newly discovered evidence, as he is citing to executions which occurred before he filed his last motion. He does not demonstrate that the data he provides from Ohio and Georgia is newly discovered, as it related to executions occurring prior to this year. Even assuming that some of the data is new, the Court does not view it as creating a constitutional challenge to Florida's protocol. The assertion that one expert determined an ideal time frame does not require the Court to stand over DOC personnel with a stopwatch. If it did, the Court suspects it could be accused of rushing executions and creating a greater risk of harm. The Court does not find where in Dr. Derschwitz's [Dershowitz's] testimony that he set the 11-minute standard and Schwab does not point it out in his Motion. Concerning an appropriate dose of sodium pentathol the Court determines that there was testimony at the Lightbourne hearing that the higher dose of sodium pentathol used in the Florida protocol (five grams as opposed to three grams in Kentucky, two in Ohio and Georgia) may cause the subsequent drugs to act more slowly (Exhibit B, from Defendant's Exhibit 1, testimony of Dr Dershwitz, p. 32). But Dr. Dershwitz did not testify and Schwab does not claim that this actually results in any pain or risk of pain. Dr. Dershwitz testified that once the thiopental [sodium pentathol] is administered, nothing that is done to the inmate after that is perceptible by the inmate. He also testified that once the first few hundred milligrams of sodium pentathol were administered, the onset of unconsciousness is typically between thirty and sixty seconds. (Exhibit B, pp. 33, 60). Even if Schwab is correct that the higher sodium pentathol dose used by Florida delays death, his motion does not allege that this dosage would fail to render him unconscious within seconds, thus eliminating any further Eighth Amendment concerns. What constitutes a correct dose of sodium pentathol is not a matter which should be decided by a court of law. As the Baze court pointed out, the courts should not be transformed into boards of inquiry charged with determining best practices for executions. Id. at 1531. Again, the constitutional focus is unconsciousness, not the duration of the execution following unconsciousness.