This article is about a man named Dennis
McGuire who was killed by lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional
Facility in Lucasville for raping and murdering a 22-year-old pregnant
woman. The lethal injection he was given, a combination of midazolam and
hydromorphone (a sedative and a very strong anesthetic derived from morphine),
was something nobody had ever used before for lethal injection and Dennis
McGuire was the first one to test it. During McGuire’s injection, witnesses
said that he struggled and some added that he was gasping loudly, snorting, and making
choking noises. The lethal injection took around ten minutes before McGuire was
declared completely dead a few minutes later, which is nearly twice as long as
what a regular injection would take if done properly. The author of this
article did a decent job of not taking a clear stance on the situation, making
it a little tougher to take a stance. The real question being
asked is, was testing this new cocktail of drugs an acceptable thing to do?
Many death penalty opponents believe that
this has caused an increase in problems concerning lethal injection, but death
penalty supporters disagree with that statement. Mr. Schiedegger stated that
McGuire’s discomfort due to the new cocktail of drugs should be of no concern
to us, given that he did get a sedative as the very first thing. But in my
personal opinion, the testing of new combinations of drugs seems like a
barbaric thing to do to a human being. I’m not saying that McGuire’s punishment
should have been something other than the death penalty; he committed an
absolutely shameful crime and deserved rightful punishment. But he was treated
like an animal being tested on with the new drug cocktail. While I believe that
the death penalty still should have been carried out on McGuire for his
actions, I also believe that it should have been in a different way.
It’s pretty easy to argue that on one
hand, McGuire deserved the pain of this new drug combination 100 percent,
because he committed the crime of rape and murder, two extremely repulsive
actions. But you have to think, is it really acceptable to pump chemicals into
a human and observe their body’s reaction until they’re dead? The fact that makes
it a little harder to swallow is that no one knew exactly how these chemicals
combined would react, hence why the death penalty opponents watched the case so closely. Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham Law School and an expert in lethal injection cases stated that it was clear that the execution did not go the way it was supposed to. But with this one act of new drug usage for lethal
injection, the spotlight has been put on lethal injection in general. I
personally believe that lethal injection should be outlawed and end altogether.
But I think that at least for the time being there should be no more “surprise”
drug cocktails tested, where no one knows exactly what the functions of the combined drugs
and how the human body reacts to them.
I believe that lethal injections should remain legal because the amount of money going into a prisoner each year on death row is very high. When someone is on death row, they do not have many rights and they did the crime that warrants to be put to death so that’s what should happen. As for testing new drugs on prisoners, I think they should have some clue to the effects of it before going in to the prisons with it. They should’ve tested this new drug before administering it to a human. Making the prisoner suffer even more is not very humane even considering the circumstances. I think researchers should keep trying to make lethal doses that shut down the body faster because even the drug taking five minutes to work has to be unbearable. If they can make a drug that kills a prisoner almost instantly I think that will better our prison system.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the very few topics that I have yet to pick any form of side. One of my biggest stances when picking a side for a political argument is that there, in my opinion, should never be an exception. For instance: lethal injection in some cases is deserved, cheaper, and quick. But the argument against it are things like: it cost to much to hold prisoners, it is not right for us to determine the fate of another human, a wrong does not equate to another wrong. That being said, I am torn. I feel like some people deserve it, but at the same time….we are doing this to punish them. What if they want to die? Then, are we giving them the best amount of justice? For me, I am just too torn.
DeleteI do not think it is okay for them to test out a new injection on McGuire. He should have the right to decide if he wants them to try it on him or not. He deserves his sentence but I think he should have been aware of what they were testing out. Since the testing did not go as well as planned they got a lot of back fire. They would have avoided this if they had gotten consent or testing it another way. I think lethal injection should not be put in a bad light because it was decided that it was the best way to punish criminals. I am a supporter of it but I do not think the doctors should be allowed to test out new combinations of the drug on different people for testing purposes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Annemarie that lethal injections should remain legal and not be outlawed. Clearly it is an issue to administer a lethal injection on a person without knowing the end result. Anything concerning the life of another person should always be taken seriously without any "surprises." Given that this man committed a heinous crime which ultimately put him in this position, he should not have to suffer for 10 minutes before he passes. Lethal injection is an appropriate death for criminals but the people need to be aware of what exactly they are injecting in the prisoner. Sometimes I believe that it is worse for a criminal to suffer life in prison than to be given a lethal injection. Suffering for 10 minutes rather than your whole life for the life or lives you ended seems like the easy way out. Lethal injection should rarely be used to avoid problems like this.
ReplyDeleteI believe that lethal injections should remain legal but only used on criminals that have committed absolutely awful crimes. In the case of Dennis McGuire I think he got what was deserved for the act that he committed. Although when asked do I think that it was ok that they tried a new concoction on this criminal, I personally do not think it was ok because their was no telling what could have happened without proper and more human testing. Brooks has an interesting point when the essay says that an argument can be made to say that he deserved the pain that was brought by the injection but I would say no. Yes, some people that commit terrible crimes such as rape do deserve the death sentence but putting them in pain is not right as well or even humane. With all that said, I think that this entry is a very interesting piece about a different topic.
ReplyDeleteA little off subject but I would like to add that the family of Dennis McGuire, will sue the state of Ohio. The lawsuit that will be filed in the federal court says that Ohio violated the constitution's "cruel and unusual punishment." I believe that this man deserved this lethal concoction and the state did not have any other viable option at that point in time. This man is very lucky for getting the death sentence because life in jail would have been hell. The death penalty should definitely not be outlawed, and the death penalty should be sentenced very carefully in the future. I really don't care that he suffered a few minutes or that he started choking and gasping, the pregnant woman whose life was destroyed in his hands suffered so much more than that. No one but Dennis McGuire knows if he suffered or not, so this news story is irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion when somebody commits a crime as awful as this they deserve to be put to death and have alternative chemicals tested on them. If you decide to commit such a revolting crime and act like an animal you deserve to be tested on and to be treated like the animal that you acted like. These new chemicals should not be outlawed, they should be tested on the scum that decide to take another persons life and commit crimes as revolting as these. I agree with the fact that this man got much better than he deserved when they tested a new chemical on him, he deserved to spend his life in a prison. But on the other hand I also feel that this man didn't deserve to live another day even in a prison, why should the government pay for this man to live after the crimes that he committed.
DeleteLethal Injection is obviously very controversial, but as most of you have seen I'm very opinionated and tend to pick a side. Not only did he rape and murder a young mother, but he murdered her unborn child. I tolerate no child abuse, murder, rape, abortion or anything of the sort. If you kill someone you deserve equal pain to make up for the pain that you caused not only her, but her family. Many say it is inhumane and that he struggled. What about the girl? Did she not struggle being raped and murdered, TWO TIMES THE PAIN, and not to mention embarrassment? I'm certain he took his sweet time and so I hope for just a minute or two he got what he dished out. While I realize two wrongs do not make a right, I can't help but hope just a little that he did struggle and gasp just as the woman did. He left behind a lifetime of pain and sadness and had to only face a few minutes of his own. Besides, he acted like an animal, why not be treated like one? So Warsame, I totally agree with you.
ReplyDeleteMy stance on this issue would have to be that they should not have tested the man with an untested drug for his punishment without his consent. Yes, I believe he deserves a punishment but not necessarily this one. It is true that there are people out there that have done things a lot worse than him. Going off of this, why was he the one being tested with this drug that resulted in him suffering twice as long as the usual death penalty. I believe that he could have a strong lawsuit against these people mainly because they did not give him an option to be tested or didn’t make him aware of what they were planning to do to him. I think lethal injection is not a bad death penalty but the way they went about this situation and hiding it from the patient was very wrong and deceiving.
ReplyDeletePersonally I have mixed views on this topic. I do believe the death penalty for any degree of murder because you are actually physically killing a body. That body is someone’s life. Rape in general on the other hand can go both ways. Many people have different views on whether rape should serve the death penalty. In Dennis McGuire's case, I am glad that he got the death penalty even with the new chemical drug. If you think about it he killed two human beings because she was pregnant. Who would have that cruel to do that! As for the infection of new chemicals, I do believe the chemicals should be tested on someone else besides humans. Imagine how Dennis McGuire’s family must have felt if they were watching him die for 10 minutes in front of their faces with this devastating drug. There is always two sides when arguing these testing’s. Although I am against animal cruelty as well, I believe scientist have a way of testing these drugs on smaller organisms instead of humans.
ReplyDeleteThis topic is of great controversy. While this person performed deeds of great malice, some may argue that this was not a just course of action. Sometimes, even after performing said malicious deeds, forced suffering is a situation that no one should have to endure. However, on the other hand, the evidence is not necessarily valid. The fact that some heard that "he was gasping loudly, snorting, and making choking noises", is not quite the accurate and irrefutable proof. People may hear of different things, and reply in different ways on the matter. However, assuming that he was "choking" and doing such things, acting is always a factor in this. A criminal such as him is fully capable of masquerading his death to be more terrible than usual, and thus more effective on the public. This is something that must be considered before making blatant justifications about the moral standings on someone's death.
ReplyDeleteNo question lethal injections should remain legal and not be outlawed. There are criminals out there that deserve these punishments such as McGuire. Yes, I do think it is wrong that they tested a new type of injection on him. They should have never tested that on a human being because you never know when something could go absolutely wrong. I definitely think McGuire deserved the death penalty though because he committed rape on a pregnant woman and then killed her. He killed an innocent woman and her baby. He deserved to not live any longer but maybe not in such a harsh way.
ReplyDeleteI honestly cannot pick a side for this topic. It would be easy to make an argument for either side. On one hand the man was on death row and he was going to die or be killed sooner or later and the way he passes is not much of a big deal. Whether it was a new way or the old way, either way he passes away for the crimes he committed. But on the other hand he is still a human being and no human deserves to be treated that inhumanely. No matter what crimes are committed by the inmates on death row they are all still human and deserve the same way of death, not to be treated like an animal and be tested on.
ReplyDeleteCall me heartless but I have no objections toward the death penalty. In order for one to find themselves on death row they have already gone through a "fair" trial and been have prosecuted. I use the term fair lightly due to the occasions where it does not always turn out that way, but more often then not criminals are rightfully punished for their crimes. In any case this man had committed the crime and so he must then do the time. I also believe in our ability to research, yes there are ways to go about it as “morally” as possible but in the end if we as human beings want to further our knowledge of what resources we are working with of whom not better to experiment on then a man already sentenced to death. No violent acts were directed toward this man and in the end he reached the same ultimate fate if they would’ve used the regular lethal injection.
ReplyDeleteI'm a firm supporter in the death penalty, for reasons that would need to be expressed in a much longer post. This man was an inmate who's crime warranted the death penalty. My biggest thing with this issue is why was a new lethal injection concoction even tested in the first place? What did they need to test a new drug for? In the post it says that the normal lethal injection procedure puts a criminal to death in half the time that this new one did, so it's not like there was a problem with the system. The test shouldn't even have occurred because it was unwarranted and unnecessary. I think from this point, there should be no more use of this new drug because it obviously isn't as effective and is seen more as inhumane. All in all, it's unfortunate that this man had to die in this particular way because it does seem a fair share on the inhumane side, but he is dead and ultimately that is the objective of lethal injection procedures in the first place. No new drugs, and let's move on.
ReplyDeleteThere is no question to the fact as if I feel lethal injection should stay legal, because I think I should be legal. To the main point of the article, I don’t know what to think of it. I believe it is both wrong and okay to try this new cocktail lethal injection drug on this man. Yes he was accused of a crime and sentenced to death but at the end of the day he is human and he does have a right to a humane death. Though this drug would be needed to be tested on somebody at some point in time I feel that first the drug should be scientifically on maybe lab rats or something but not right away on an actual human being. No matter what a person does they should not be a guinea pig and have to go through an extensively long death.
ReplyDelete