Full Transcript for #BotchedExecutions | Kenneth Smith And The Men Sent Back To Their Cells

that it was not likely that they were 67 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:52.379 going to access veins, he said. Campbell shook hands with 68 00:04:52.420 --> 00:04:55.579 two members of the team and wiped away tears, and 69 00:04:55.639 --> 00:04:58.790 through Stebbins, he said, This is a day I'll never forget. 70 00:04:58.810 --> 00:05:02.889 The AP called it only the third time in modern U.S. 71 00:05:02.930 --> 00:05:06.370 history that an execution had been halted after it began. 72 00:05:07.290 --> 00:05:13.040 Governor John Kasich set a new date, June 5, 2019. 73 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:17.009 Campbell had been in a wheelchair for on April 2, 1997, too, 74 00:05:17.430 --> 00:05:22.149 but that time he was faking paralysis. Paroled in 1992, 75 00:05:22.149 --> 00:05:25.670 after 20 years for a 1972 murder, he was being 76 00:05:25.730 --> 00:05:29.050 driven that day by a sheriff's deputy, Teresa Harrison, to 77 00:05:29.069 --> 00:05:32.810 a Franklin County courthouse for an arraignment. In a loading dock, 78 00:05:33.230 --> 00:05:36.579 he attacked her, took her pistol, and ran. He stopped 79 00:05:36.620 --> 00:05:39.819 a pickup driven by 18-year-old Charles Dials and spent the 80 00:05:39.879 --> 00:05:43.360 next hours driving around Columbus with him, stopping at a 81 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:47.459 drive-thru for a 40-ounce beer. Behind a Kmart, he told 82 00:05:47.500 --> 00:05:50.550 Dials to get down on the floorboard, and when Dials did, 83 00:05:51.149 --> 00:05:54.629 he shot him twice. He was found hiding in a tree. 84 00:05:55.389 --> 00:05:57.490 We had warned them for months that they were going 85 00:05:57.509 --> 00:06:01.129 to have this problem, Stebbins said after the attempt. He's 86 00:06:01.129 --> 00:06:03.529 69 years old and has all kinds of illnesses and 87 00:06:03.550 --> 00:06:06.160 his veins are a mess. they're just not going to 88 00:06:06.220 --> 00:06:12.089 get any better. Ohio never got its second try. Campbell 89 00:06:12.129 --> 00:06:15.189 was found unresponsive in his cell at the Chillicothe Correctional 90 00:06:15.209 --> 00:06:19.829 Institution on March 3, 2018, and he died of natural causes, 91 00:06:19.829 --> 00:06:27.920 15 months before the new date. Chapter 35. Doyle Hamm 92 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:33.949 and the Needle in the Groin Atmore, Alabama, February 22, 93 00:06:33.949 --> 00:06:39.680 2018 Doyle Lee Hamm had lymphoma. He'd been diagnosed in 94 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:42.920 2014 with a cancer behind his left eye and in 95 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:47.009 his skull and treated with radiation. And by 2017, the 96 00:06:47.069 --> 00:06:50.209 lymph nodes in his neck, chest, and abdomen were swelling. 97 00:06:50.230 --> 00:06:54.170 Over the seven months before his execution date, his lawyer, 98 00:06:54.410 --> 00:06:58.699 Bernard Harcourt, a Columbia law professor, told Alabama's courts that 99 00:06:58.759 --> 00:07:03.519 the veins couldn't be reached. Harcourt retained an anesthesiologist, Dr. 100 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:07.870 Mark Heath, who wrote that IV access may be impossible and, 101 00:07:08.110 --> 00:07:11.089 if it could be done at all, would be extraordinarily 102 00:07:11.149 --> 00:07:17.000 difficult and bloody. The state's court-appointed examiner found usable veins 103 00:07:17.060 --> 00:07:19.759 below the knee, and the state agreed not to try 104 00:07:19.819 --> 00:07:24.259 Hamm's arms. On the night of February 22, 2018, the 105 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:27.860 Supreme Court denied a stay at about 8.40 by his 106 00:07:27.899 --> 00:07:32.850 lawyer's clock, with Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor dissenting. At about 107 00:07:32.850 --> 00:07:35.860 9 o'clock, Hamm was taken into the chamber at Holman. 108 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:39.209 No reporter saw the next two and a half hours 109 00:07:39.290 --> 00:07:42.430 because Alabama doesn't let the witnesses in until the lines 110 00:07:42.490 --> 00:07:45.790 are set. Hamm's account came over the next three days, 111 00:07:46.209 --> 00:07:49.370 given to his lawyer and to Dr. Heath. Two men, 112 00:07:49.389 --> 00:07:52.439 he said, worked on both his legs at once, below 113 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:55.040 the knees, and they turned him onto his stomach and 114 00:07:55.139 --> 00:07:57.279 slapped the back of his legs to raise a vein. 115 00:07:57.920 --> 00:07:59.860 Then a man he took to be a doctor, with 116 00:07:59.899 --> 00:08:02.790 a woman holding an ultrasound, went into his right groin 117 00:08:02.910 --> 00:08:06.790 again and again, feeling for the femoral vein. Hamm said 118 00:08:06.829 --> 00:08:08.949 he began to hope they would succeed so it would 119 00:08:08.970 --> 00:08:13.050 be over. At about 11.27 p.m., with the death warrant 120 00:08:13.089 --> 00:08:17.959 expiring at midnight, the state stopped. Commissioner Jeff Dunn told reporters, 121 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:21.480 I wouldn't necessarily characterize what we had tonight as a problem, 122 00:08:22.300 --> 00:08:24.800 and said it had been more of a time issue 123 00:08:24.860 --> 00:08:30.000 given the late hour. Heath counted 11 puncture wounds. five 124 00:08:30.040 --> 00:08:32.820 in the legs and ankles, and about six in the groin, 125 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:37.379 along with a large hematoma. Hamm urinated blood that night. 126 00:08:38.149 --> 00:08:39.990 Heath wrote that it could have come from a puncture 127 00:08:40.009 --> 00:08:43.629 of the bladder, a ureter, the prostate, or the urethra, 128 00:08:44.009 --> 00:08:47.110 and the pattern of bleeding pointed to a punctured artery. 129 00:08:47.730 --> 00:08:49.769 This was a bit of butchery that can only be 130 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:54.519 described as torture, Harcourt said. Hamm was on death row 131 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:59.379 for the January 1987 robbery of Anderson's Motel in Cullman, Alabama, 132 00:09:00.049 --> 00:09:03.100 He'd shot the night clerk, Patrick Cunningham, once in the 133

00:09:03.149 --> 00:09:06.759 temple from about 18 inches while Cunningham lay on the floor, 134 00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:11.259 and left with about $ 350 from the drawer and $ 60 135 00:09:11.179 --> 00:09:15.019 from the clerk's wallet. A jury voted 11-1 for death. 136 00:09:16.120 --> 00:09:20.320 On March 26, 2018, the state settled with Hamm, agreeing 137 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:24.039 never to try again, and the terms were sealed. He 138 00:09:24.090 --> 00:09:29.330 died of his cancer on death row on November 28, 2021. 139 00:09:29.330 --> 00:09:38.590 at 64. Chapter 36. John Grant and the Two Dozen Convulsions. McAllister, Oklahoma. 140 00:09:39.070 --> 00:09:45.529 October 28th, 2021. From behind the curtain, John Marion Grant 141 00:09:45.570 --> 00:09:49.480 was shouting, Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! It was 142 00:09:49.509 --> 00:09:52.240 about four o'clock in the afternoon of October 28th, 2021, 143 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:55.379 and he was on the gurney at the Oklahoma State 144 00:09:55.399 --> 00:10:01.220 Penitentiary in McAllister. Oklahoma hadn't executed anyone. since Charles Warner 145 00:10:01.419 --> 00:10:05.019 in January 2015, when it had used the wrong drug, 146 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:08.480 and that day the Supreme Court had lifted, five to three, 147 00:10:08.919 --> 00:10:12.809 a stay the Tenth Circuit granted the day before. After 148 00:10:12.850 --> 00:10:15.809 the curtain rose, Grant let out a string of profanity 149 00:10:16.090 --> 00:10:20.179 until the microphone was cut. The 500 milligrams of midazolam 150 00:10:20.220 --> 00:10:23.139 went in, and his upper back lifted off the gurney 151 00:10:23.320 --> 00:10:26.559 again and again. Sean Murphy of the AP, who had 152 00:10:26.620 --> 00:10:29.580 watched more than a dozen executions in the state, counted 153 00:10:29.620 --> 00:10:35.019 about two dozen full-body convulsions. Then Grant vomited. It ran 154 00:10:35.059 --> 00:10:37.759 down his face and neck, and the staff came in 155 00:10:37.779 --> 00:10:41.700 to wipe it, and he vomited again. At about 4.15, 156 00:10:41.700 --> 00:10:45.460 a doctor declared him unconscious. The second and third drugs followed, 157 00:10:45.970 --> 00:10:51.250 and at 4.21, he was pronounced dead. Inmate Grant's execution 158 00:10:51.289 --> 00:10:54.289 was carried out in accordance with Oklahoma Department of Corrections 159 00:10:54.330 --> 00:10:58.990 protocols and without complication, the department said that night. The 160 00:10:59.029 --> 00:11:02.210 next day, its director, Scott Crow, told reporters some of 161 00:11:02.230 --> 00:11:05.730 the witnesses' accounts were either embellished or is not exactly 162 00:11:05.830 --> 00:11:08.850 on point, and that the movements were dry heaves and 163 00:11:09.190 --> 00:11:13.070 numbered fewer than ten. The attending physician had advised him, 164 00:11:13.250 --> 00:11:17.159 Crow said, that regurgitation is not a completely uncommon instance 165 00:11:17.419

--> 00:11:20.809 or occurrence with someone that's undergoing sedation. I will agree, 166 00:11:21.049 --> 00:11:24.870 inmate grants regurgitation was not pleasant to watch, he said, 167 00:11:25.269 --> 00:11:29.490 but I do not believe it was inhumane. The autopsy 168 00:11:29.629 --> 00:11:34.210 came out the following February. It found pulmonary edema, lungs 169 00:11:34.330 --> 00:11:38.850 weighing nearly 1,400 grams together, vomit in his airway, and 170 00:11:38.909 --> 00:11:42.899 bleeding inside the muscle of his tongue. That spring, the 171 00:11:42.940 --> 00:11:46.320 federal judge who heard the lethal injection trial found Grant 172 00:11:46.340 --> 00:11:50.759 had been under general anesthesia, unconscious, when he was regurgitating, 173 00:11:51.179 --> 00:11:53.419 and added that if he'd felt anything at all, for 174 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:56.240 what the judge put at well under five minutes, he 175 00:11:56.259 --> 00:11:58.899 would have had no way to stop or otherwise alleviate 176 00:11:59.100 --> 00:12:03.250 the combined effect of simultaneously regurgitating and struggling to breathe. 177 00:12:04.129 --> 00:12:07.450 It wasn't enough, the judge ruled, to violate the Eighth Amendment. 178 00:12:08.970 --> 00:12:14.220 On November 13th, 1998, Grant was already serving 130 years 179 00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:17.860 for four armed robberies when he stabbed Gay Carter, a 180 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:21.120 food service supervisor at the Connor Correctional Center in Hominy, 181 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:26.419 16 times with a sharpened shank. One wound punctured her aorta. 182 00:12:27.350 --> 00:12:30.730 Her daughter, Pam Carter, said afterward, even after Grant was 183 00:12:30.809 --> 00:12:34.049 removed from society, he committed an act of violence that 184 00:12:34.090 --> 00:12:37.450 took an innocent life. I pray that justice prevails for 185 00:12:37.490 --> 00:12:44.169 the other victims' loved ones. Chapter 37. Joe Nathan James 186 00:12:44.269 --> 00:12:52.169 and the Three Hours Behind the Curtain. Atmore, Alabama. July 28th, 2022. 187 00:12:52.429 --> 00:12:56.429 Faith Hall's daughters didn't want Joe Nathan James Jr. executed. 188 00:12:57.370 --> 00:13:01.649 On August 15th, 1994, after a year of threats and break-ins, 189 00:13:02.110 --> 00:13:05.409 he had shot their mother, his former girlfriend, three times 190 00:13:05.470 --> 00:13:09.169 in a Birmingham apartment. The girls were three and six. 191 00:13:10.250 --> 00:13:12.169 I did have hatred in my heart for this man 192 00:13:12.230 --> 00:13:15.009 because you took my mother, Terrell and Hall said in 193 00:13:15.049 --> 00:13:19.049 July 2022, but as I got older, became a mother myself, 194 00:13:19.529 --> 00:13:22.070 I had to realize you can't walk around with hatred 195 00:13:22.230 --> 00:13:26.210 in your heart. Her sister, Toni Melton, said, Taking his 196 00:13:26.269 --> 00:13:29.639 life will not bring my mother back. They asked Governor 197 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:33.299 Kay Ivey for life without parole, and were told there 198 00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:36.659 was no reason to change anything. The execution was set 199 00:13:36.860 --> 00:13:42.279 for 6 p.m. on July 28, 2022, at Holman. The 200 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:46.779 curtain didn't rise until 9.02, and the drugs didn't start 201 00:13:47.139 --> 00:13:51.679 until 9.04. For about two minutes before they started, James 202 00:13:51.820 --> 00:13:54.799 lay with his eyes closed and didn't move, and when 203 00:13:54.830 --> 00:13:58.570 he was asked for last words, he said nothing. When 204 00:13:58.610 --> 00:14:01.629 the drugs flowed, his eyes fluttered, and he was pronounced 205 00:14:01.710 --> 00:14:06.610 dead at 9.27. Afterward, Commissioner John Hamm said that nothing 206 00:14:06.789 --> 00:14:09.269 out of the ordinary had happened and that James hadn't 207 00:14:09.330 --> 00:14:13.110 been sedated. asked whether the team had trouble finding a vein. 208 00:14:13.250 --> 00:14:17.169 He said, I don't know. The next day, the department 209 00:14:17.210 --> 00:14:20.240 said the delay had been caused by trouble establishing an 210 00:14:20.360 --> 00:14:23.600 IV line, and on whether James had been conscious, its 211 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:28.899 spokeswoman said, I cannot confirm that. Five days later, a 212 00:14:28.940 --> 00:14:33.389 pathologist hired by the family examined the body. The group 213 00:14:33.529 --> 00:14:38.190 Reprieve paid for it, and an Emory anesthesiologist, Dr. Joel Zivett, 214 00:14:38.529 --> 00:14:42.500 was in the room. they found puncture wounds on the hands, wrists, 215 00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:46.570 and arms, bruising, and needle marks in muscle away from 216 00:14:46.710 --> 00:14:49.750 any vein. On the inside of his left arm was 217 00:14:49.789 --> 00:14:53.129 an incision that Zivit said looked like a cut-down, an 218 00:14:53.190 --> 00:14:56.230 old surgical technique for exposing a vein that would be 219 00:14:56.289 --> 00:15:01.139 painful without anesthesia. The department said that, with adequate time, 220 00:15:01.419 --> 00:15:06.059 intravenous access was established, and later denied doing a cut-down. 221 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:10.309 Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Information Center called the 222 00:15:10.350 --> 00:15:13.870 three hours among the worst botches in the modern history 223 00:15:14.169 --> 00:15:21.990 of the U.S. death penalty. On September 30th, 2026, Tennessee 224 00:15:22.049 --> 00:15:26.100 gave Krista Pike two doses of pentobarbital, and she survived both. 225 00:15:26.700 --> 00:15:30.799 States have been botching executions for nearly 400 years, and 226 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:34.700 my new book, Botched Executions, tells the true stories of 227 00:15:34.700 --> 00:15:37.960 81 of them, from a hanging in Oxford in 1650 228 00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:42.210 to that gurney in Nashville. Botched Executions is on Amazon 229 00:15:42.250 -->

00:15:46.129 now in Kindle and paperback, and it's included with Kindle Unlimited. 230 00:15:46.470 --> 00:15:53.750 Find it at WeirdDarkness.com slash books. Chapter 38. Alan Miller 231 00:15:54.049 --> 00:15:57.779 hanging from the gurney. Atmore, Alabama, September 22nd, 2022 and 232 00:15:57.820 --> 00:16:00.600 September 26th, 2024. Alan Eugene Miller said he'd filled out 233 00:16:00.620 --> 00:16:10.250 the form. In 2018, he Alabama gave its death row 234 00:16:10.289 --> 00:16:14.029 prisoners 30 days to choose nitrogen gas over the needle. 235 00:16:14.769 --> 00:16:17.450 Miller had a lifelong fear of needles, and a history 236 00:16:17.470 --> 00:16:20.110 of nurses digging for his veins, and he said he 237 00:16:20.149 --> 00:16:22.509 signed the election and left it in the slot in 238 00:16:22.549 --> 00:16:25.659 his cell door. The state said it had no record 239 00:16:25.700 --> 00:16:29.580 of it. A federal judge, R. Austin Huffaker Jr., heard 240 00:16:29.620 --> 00:16:33.519 him testify, found it substantially likely that he had done 241 00:16:33.559 --> 00:16:36.149 what he said, and barred the state from killing him 242 00:16:36.409 --> 00:16:42.779 any way but nitrogen. At about 9 p.m. on September 22, 2022, 243 00:16:42.779 --> 00:16:48.509 the Supreme Court vacated that order 5-4, and at about 9.55, 244 00:16:48.509 --> 00:16:51.049 more than a dozen officers walked Miller to the chamber 245 00:16:51.470 --> 00:16:56.230 at Holman. What happened next comes from Miller's lawsuit, as 246 00:16:56.289 --> 00:16:59.480 a federal court set it out in its opinion. At 247 00:16:59.539 --> 00:17:02.779 about 10.15, he was strapped down with his arms raised 248 00:17:02.820 --> 00:17:05.420 above his head because he was too short for the gurney. 249 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:08.640 Three men he could identify only by the color of 250 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:12.329 their scrubs worked on him for about 90 minutes. The 251 00:17:12.390 --> 00:17:14.730 crook of his right elbow, where he could feel his 252 00:17:14.769 --> 00:17:18.609 veins being pushed around inside his body by needles. His 253 00:17:18.670 --> 00:17:22.130 right hand. His left arm, where the needles went deeper 254 00:17:22.190 --> 00:17:25.839 in his body than ever before. His right foot. A 255 00:17:25.900 --> 00:17:29.180 stick there felt like being electrocuted, and his whole body 256 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:33.000 shook against the straps. One of the men began slapping 257 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:35.250 the skin of his neck. Then a guard worked a 258 00:17:35.309 --> 00:17:38.710 foot pump and raised the gurney from horizontal to vertical. 259 00:17:39.559 --> 00:17:43.339 Miller hung there, strapped in by his arms, feet, and chest, 260 00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:47.119 for what he estimated was 20 minutes, with blood leaking 261 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:50.500 from the punctures, telling them the position was giving him 262 00:17:50.579 --> 00:17:54.259 hell and his foot was killing him. He saw the 263 00:17:54.299 --> 00:17:59.819 clock say 11.40. Just before midnight, a corrections employee appeared 264 00:17:59.859 --> 00:18:03.259 by his head and said, Your execution has been postponed. 265 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:08.319 In a statement, Commissioner Hamm said the execution was called 266 00:18:08.420 --> 00:18:11.920 off due to time constraints resulting from the lateness of 267 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:16.799 the court proceedings. Two months later, the state settled, agreeing 268 00:18:16.900 --> 00:18:21.680 it would never try lethal injection on Miller again. Miller 269 00:18:21.700 --> 00:18:25.230 had killed three men on the morning of August 5, 1999, 270 00:18:25.230 --> 00:18:29.690 in Pelham, south of Birmingham. He walked into Ferguson Enterprises, 271 00:18:29.769 --> 00:18:32.730 where he drove a delivery truck, told a co-worker, I'm 272 00:18:32.809 --> 00:18:35.900 tired of people starting rumors on me and shot Lee 273 00:18:35.940 --> 00:18:41.109 Holdbrooks and Christopher Yancey. Holdbrooks crawled 20 to 25 feet 274 00:18:41.150 --> 00:18:44.230 down a hallway before he died. Then Miller drove to 275 00:18:44.269 --> 00:18:47.009 Post Airgas, where he used to work, called out to 276 00:18:47.049 --> 00:18:50.369 Terry Jarvis, Hey, I hear you've been spreading rumors about me, 277 00:18:51.170 --> 00:18:56.250 and shot him too. Alabama executed Miller with nitrogen on 278 00:18:56.289 --> 00:19:00.450 September 26, 2024, and he became the second person in 279 00:19:00.470 --> 00:19:03.819 the country to die that way. When the curtain opened 280 00:19:03.880 --> 00:19:07.019 at 6.12 in the evening, the mask was already on 281 00:19:07.059 --> 00:19:09.839 his face. I didn't do anything to be in here, 282 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:13.519 he said through it. By the witness's reckoning, an officer 283 00:19:13.579 --> 00:19:16.640 closed the valve on the mask at 6.16, and the 284 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:20.089 gas was flowing by 6.18. For about two minutes, he 285 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:24.250 shook and trembled and pulled against the restraints. Then, for 286 00:19:24.289 --> 00:19:28.230 about six minutes, he took periodic gulping breaths that lifted 287 00:19:28.250 --> 00:19:31.329 his head off the gurney, and his left hand turned blue. 288 00:19:32.630 --> 00:19:36.230 He was pronounced dead at 6.38. Just like in Smith, 289 00:19:36.509 --> 00:19:39.519 we talked about there's going to be involuntarily body movements 290 00:19:39.619 --> 00:19:42.839 as the body is depleted of oxygen, Hamm said. So, 291 00:19:43.140 --> 00:19:48.589 that was nothing we did not expect. Chapter 39. Kenneth Smith. 292 00:19:50.339 --> 00:19:56.559 and the First Breath of Nitrogen. Atmore, Alabama. November 17th, 293 00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:04.269 2022 and January 25th, 2024. Kenneth Eugene Smith was the 294 00:20:04.349 --> 00:20:09.849 Smith that Commissioner John Hamm meant. On November 17th, 2022, 295 00:20:09.930

--> 00:20:13.670 Eight weeks after Miller, Alabama strapped him to the same gurney, 296 00:20:14.109 --> 00:20:16.569 and at about 8 p.m., while he lay there, the 297 00:20:16.869 --> 00:20:20.789 11th Circuit stayed his execution. The Supreme Court lifted the 298 00:20:20.809 --> 00:20:23.930 stay at about 10.20, and the team went to work. 299 00:20:24.750 --> 00:20:27.809 Three men searched his arms, hands, and feet with needles 300 00:20:27.890 --> 00:20:31.349 by his later account. Then they tilted the gurney until 301 00:20:31.410 --> 00:20:35.630 he hung in what his lawyers called an inverse crucifixion position, 302 00:20:36.049 --> 00:20:39.069 and a large needle went into the skin under his collarbone. 303 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:42.539 they were trying for a central line, and it felt 304 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:44.799 to him like he was being stabbed in the chest. 305 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:49.680 At about 11.20, the state called it off, again for time. 306 00:20:50.349 --> 00:20:52.910 I was strapped down, couldn't catch my breath, I was 307 00:20:53.009 --> 00:20:55.869 shaking like a leaf, Smith told NPR more than a 308 00:20:55.910 --> 00:20:58.650 year later. I was absolutely alone in a room full 309 00:20:58.670 --> 00:21:00.670 of people, and not one of them tried to help 310 00:21:00.730 --> 00:21:02.750 me at all, and I was crying out for help. 311 00:21:04.150 --> 00:21:07.490 He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, with vomiting that 312 00:21:07.509 --> 00:21:12.079 wouldn't stop, Four days after his attempt, Governor Ivey stopped 313 00:21:12.359 --> 00:21:15.839 all executions in Alabama for a review. For the sake 314 00:21:15.859 --> 00:21:18.700 of the victims and their families, we've got to get 315 00:21:18.779 --> 00:21:21.799 this right, she said, adding that she didn't buy for 316 00:21:21.880 --> 00:21:23.980 a second that any of it was the fault of 317 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:28.740 the Corrections Department. The review took three months and produced 318 00:21:28.920 --> 00:21:33.240 no public report. The state's Supreme Court also changed its rules. 319 00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:36.410 The governor, rather than the court, could now set the 320 00:21:36.450 --> 00:21:39.250 time frame for an execution, and it was no longer 321 00:21:39.309 --> 00:21:44.890 limited to a single day. In 1988, a Colbert County preacher, 322 00:21:45.109 --> 00:21:48.730 Charles Sennett, hired Smith through a middleman to kill his wife, 323 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:53.680 Elizabeth Sennett, for $ 1, 000. On March 18th, in her home, 324 00:21:54.119 --> 00:21:56.940 Smith and John Forrest Parker beat her and stabbed her 325 00:21:57.079 --> 00:21:59.779 eight times in the chest and once on each side 326 00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:03.160 of the neck, and they staged a burglary. A week later, 327 00:22:03.319 --> 00:22:07.250 as the investigation turned toward the preacher Charles Sennett killed himself. 328 00:22:08.470 --> 00:22:13.349 Parker was executed in 2010. Smith's second jury in 1996 329 00:22:13.349 --> 00:22:17.029 voted 11-1 for life, and the judge overrode it and 330 00:22:17.109 --> 00:22:21.180 sentenced him to death. Alabama took that power away from 331 00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:26.000 its judges in 2017 without making the change retroactive. The 332 00:22:26.039 --> 00:22:29.220 state then asked to execute him by nitrogen, a method 333 00:22:29.339 --> 00:22:32.420 no jurisdiction had ever used to execute a human being. 334 00:22:33.589 --> 00:22:36.240 On the evening of the execution, As the Supreme Court 335 00:22:36.380 --> 00:22:39.940 let it go ahead, Justice Sotomayor wrote that Alabama had 336 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:43.039 selected him as its guinea pig, and that the world 337 00:22:43.220 --> 00:22:49.430 is watching. On January 25th, 2024, at 7.53 p.m., the 338 00:22:49.470 --> 00:22:54.269 curtain at Holman opened. Smith lay strapped down, a blue-rimmed 339 00:22:54.369 --> 00:22:58.569 respirator mask covering his face from forehead to chin. Tonight, 340 00:22:59.009 --> 00:23:02.170 Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards, he said, 341 00:23:02.829 --> 00:23:05.700 and made the sign for I Love You toward his family, 342 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:10.559 and ended, I'm leaving with love, peace, and light. Love, 343 00:23:10.579 --> 00:23:15.109 all of you. The nitrogen started at about 7.57 by 344 00:23:15.150 --> 00:23:18.210 the witness's reckoning, and the state never gave a time. 345 00:23:19.789 --> 00:23:22.710 Kim Chandler of the AP counted at least two minutes 346 00:23:22.869 --> 00:23:25.730 in which he shook violently and writhed on the gurney, 347 00:23:26.089 --> 00:23:29.740 pulling against the straps, his eyes rolling back. This was 348 00:23:29.779 --> 00:23:33.190 the fifth execution that I've witnessed in Alabama. Lee Hedgepeth, 349 00:23:33.269 --> 00:23:35.920 a reporter in the room, said, And I've never seen 350 00:23:35.980 --> 00:23:39.079 such a violent execution or a violent reaction to the 351 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:45.240 means of execution. Then came several minutes of heavy, gasping breaths, slowing, 352 00:23:45.769 --> 00:23:50.309 and at 8.08, the breathing wasn't visible anymore. The curtain 353 00:23:50.349 --> 00:23:55.190 closed at 8.15, and he was pronounced dead at 8.25. 354 00:23:55.190 --> 00:23:57.660 It appeared that Smith was holding his breath as long 355 00:23:57.700 --> 00:24:00.390 as he could, Hamm said afterward. and he called the 356 00:24:00.430 --> 00:24:05.470 struggling against the straps involuntary movement and agonal breathing. All 357 00:24:05.490 --> 00:24:09.549 of it expected. The next morning, Attorney General Steve Marshall said, 358 00:24:09.950 --> 00:24:13.559 What occurred last night was textbook, and told other states, 359 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:17.980 Alabama has done it, and now so can you. Elizabeth 360 00:24:18.019 --> 00:24:21.859 Sennett's son, Mike, said,

Nothing happened here today that's going 361 00:24:21.880 --> 00:24:29.349 to bring Mom back. Nothing. Chapter 40 Thomas Creech and 362 00:24:29.369 --> 00:24:37.130 the Eight Needles in CUNA CUNA, Idaho, February 28th, 2024 363 00:24:37.450 --> 00:24:41.990 Idaho hadn't executed anyone in 12 years, and Thomas Creech 364 00:24:42.170 --> 00:24:46.710 had been in its prisons for 50. He was 73. 365 00:24:46.710 --> 00:24:49.470 In the 1970s, he'd been convicted of five murders in 366 00:24:49.539 --> 00:24:54.299 three states, and at one time he'd claimed 42. At 367 00:24:54.339 --> 00:24:58.390 his clemency hearing in January 2024, he said at least nine. 368 00:24:59.210 --> 00:25:03.029 In May 1981, already serving life, he beat a fellow inmate, 369 00:25:03.109 --> 00:25:06.250 David Jensen, 23, who was partly paralyzed and had a 370 00:25:06.309 --> 00:25:09.769 plastic plate in his skull until the plate shattered, and 371 00:25:09.789 --> 00:25:12.609 he kicked him in the throat. Jensen had come at 372 00:25:12.650 --> 00:25:15.190 him with a sock full of batteries by one court's account. 373 00:25:16.009 --> 00:25:18.630 Another court's account had Creech using it on him. A 374 00:25:19.769 --> 00:25:24.210 judge sentenced him to death. By 2024, The judge who'd 375 00:25:24.250 --> 00:25:27.930 last sentenced him, Robert Newhouse, was telling the parole commission 376 00:25:27.970 --> 00:25:31.019 that executing him now would just be an act of vengeance, 377 00:25:31.559 --> 00:25:34.980 and the commission split three to three, which meant no. 378 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:39.880 At about 10 o'clock in the morning of February 28, 2024, 379 00:25:39.880 --> 00:25:42.589 Creech was wheeled into the chamber at the Idaho Maximum 380 00:25:42.609 --> 00:25:47.589 Security Institution in CUNA. Three volunteers in white baklavas and 381 00:25:47.650 --> 00:25:50.549 navy scrub caps went to work on him. In the 382 00:25:50.569 --> 00:25:52.910 crooks of his arms, his hands, his legs, and near 383 00:25:52.930 --> 00:25:57.119 his ankles, each try took several minutes. They cleaned the skin, 384 00:25:57.519 --> 00:26:00.839 injected a numbing solution, cleaned it again, and tried to 385 00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:04.980 place the catheter. He looked toward the room where his wife, Leanne, sat, 386 00:26:05.400 --> 00:26:08.450 extended his fingers toward her, and appeared to mouth, I 387 00:26:08.549 --> 00:26:12.670 love you. They tried eight times, the state said afterward, 388 00:26:13.190 --> 00:26:15.670 or ten by his lawyer's count, and the veins they 389 00:26:15.730 --> 00:26:20.660 reached collapsed. At 10.58, the warden stopped it. and the 390 00:26:20.700 --> 00:26:24.500 Director of Corrections, Josh Twalt, made it official. I think 391 00:26:24.519 --> 00:26:26.980 it would be wrong to call it a failure, Twalt said. 392 00:26:27.400 --> 00:26:29.599 They did their level best in a professional way that 393 00:26:29.660 --> 00:26:33.059 was respectful of the process. It was a vein quality issue, 394 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:37.559 he said. Creech said later that the needles stung, and 395 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:40.460 that what hurt was when they moved the needle around, 396 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:43.119 trying to get the vein to accept it, and that 397 00:26:43.140 --> 00:26:45.420 he looked over and seen on his wife's face the 398 00:26:45.460 --> 00:26:50.410 most devastating, horrible, terrorized look he'd ever seen, He still 399 00:26:50.519 --> 00:26:54.079 woke up back on the table, he said. After that, 400 00:26:54.220 --> 00:26:57.700 Idaho rebuilt the execution block with a room for establishing 401 00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:01.940 a central line and set a second date, November 13th, 2024. 402 00:27:01.940 --> 00:27:06.329 On November 5th, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that a 403 00:27:06.410 --> 00:27:10.230 second attempt on Creech wouldn't be a second punishment. And 404 00:27:10.250 --> 00:27:13.410 the next day, a federal judge, G. Murray Snow, stopped 405 00:27:13.450 --> 00:27:16.230 it anyway.' I' m not going to rush justice in a 406 00:27:16.250 --> 00:27:21.579 case like this,' Snow said. In March 2025, Idaho passed 407 00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:25.190 a law making the firing squad its primary method of execution, 408 00:27:25.609 --> 00:27:29.970 effective July 1, 2026, the first state to do so. 409 00:27:31.029 --> 00:27:34.490 As of October 2026, Creech was still on death row 410 00:27:34.549 --> 00:27:38.329 in CUNA with no date. The statute says that any 411 00:27:38.450 --> 00:27:41.380 new warrant will be carried out by rifle if the 412 00:27:41.420 --> 00:27:47.319 department certifies the squad is ready. Interlude, the rest of 413 00:27:47.339 --> 00:27:52.440 the list. 2015 to 2022. Nine more entries from the 414 00:27:52.509 --> 00:27:59.029 years of this part in five states. Brian Keith Terrell, Georgia, 415 00:27:59.329 --> 00:28:05.269 December 9th, 2015. Terrell shot a 70-year-old friend of his mother's, 416 00:28:05.430 --> 00:28:09.759 John Watson, in his driveway in Covington in June 1992 417 00:28:09.759 --> 00:28:13.299 over 10 stolen checks, then dragged him across the lawn 418 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:16.640 and beat him. At Jackson, the nurse took about an 419 00:28:16.680 --> 00:28:19.269 hour to get lines into him. giving up on his 420 00:28:19.309 --> 00:28:23.009 left arm for his right hand, and he winced several times, 421 00:28:23.069 --> 00:28:26.869 apparently in pain. The department's own log, which BuzzFeed News 422 00:28:26.930 --> 00:28:31.410 obtained later, put it at 54 minutes. As the drug flowed, 423 00:28:31.450 --> 00:28:38.230 he mouthed the words, didn't do it. Brandon Astor Jones, Georgia, 424 00:28:38.670 --> 00:28:44.039 February 3rd, 2016 Jones was 72, the oldest man on 425 00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:48.039 Georgia's death row, condemned for the 1979 shooting of a 426 00:28:48.099 --> 00:28:52.660 convenience store manager, Roger

Tackett, in Cobb County. The department's 427 00:28:52.680 --> 00:28:56.710 handwritten timeline shows 24 minutes of failed attempts on his 428 00:28:56.750 --> 00:28:59.690 left arm, eight on his right, and one more on 429 00:28:59.710 --> 00:29:02.990 the left. Then a doctor spent 13 minutes putting a 430 00:29:03.029 --> 00:29:06.170 line into the femoral vein near his groin and stitching 431 00:29:06.210 --> 00:29:09.529 it in place. The typed version left out the stitching. 432 00:29:10.390 --> 00:29:13.769 Six minutes after the warden left the chamber, his eyes opened, 433 00:29:14.269 --> 00:29:16.410 and he turned his head to look at the clock 434 00:29:16.630 --> 00:29:24.000 on the wall. Ronald Burt Smith, Jr., Alabama, December 8, 2016. 435 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:30.160 In 1994, Smith shot a Huntsville store clerk, Casey Wilson. 436 00:29:30.920 --> 00:29:34.779 The jury voted 7-5 for life, and the judge overrode it. 437 00:29:35.490 --> 00:29:39.250 The Supreme Court stayed his execution twice that evening, and 438 00:29:39.289 --> 00:29:42.549 then let it go. with four justices saying they'd have 439 00:29:42.589 --> 00:29:46.349 stopped it. For 13 minutes after the midazolam went in, 440 00:29:46.750 --> 00:29:52.579 from 1034 to 1047, he heaved, coughed, and gasped, clenched 441 00:29:52.619 --> 00:29:55.539 his left fist, and moved his right arm through two 442 00:29:55.680 --> 00:30:00.799 consciousness checks. Kind of a guppy-out-of-water gasping, Kent Falk of 443 00:30:00.819 --> 00:30:04.519 the Birmingham News said, We do know we followed our protocol, 444 00:30:04.940 --> 00:30:08.880 Commissioner Jeff Dunn said. We are absolutely convinced of that. 445 00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:18.119 Ricky Javon Gray, Virginia, January 18, 2017 On New Year's 446 00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:21.500 Day 2006, Gray had cut the throats of Brian and 447 00:30:21.539 --> 00:30:25.019 Catherine Harvey and their two daughters, nine and four years old, 448 00:30:25.420 --> 00:30:28.289 in their Richmond basement, and set the house on fire. 449 00:30:29.289 --> 00:30:32.569 Virginia was the first state to use midazolam made by 450 00:30:32.609 --> 00:30:36.809 a compounding pharmacy. The curtain stayed closed for 33 minutes 451 00:30:37.009 --> 00:30:41.690 while the lines went in, and witnesses described gasping and snoring, 452 00:30:42.190 --> 00:30:44.799 and his head turning side to side after the pinch test. 453 00:30:45.660 --> 00:30:48.740 The autopsy found his lungs so full of fluid that 454 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:52.099 it had spilled into his airway. An Emory pathologist who 455 00:30:52.180 --> 00:30:54.880 reviewed it said the changes were more often seen in 456 00:30:54.900 --> 00:30:57.470 the aftermath of a sarin gas attack than in a 457 00:30:57.529 --> 00:31:02.829 routine hospital autopsy. Four years later, Virginia abolished the death penalty. 458 00:31:05.750 --> 00:31:12.539 Torrey McNabb, Alabama, October 19th, 2017. McNabb shot a Montgomery 459 00:31:12.579 --> 00:31:16.299 police officer, Anderson Gordon, five times in his patrol car 460 00:31:16.619 --> 00:31:20.859 in 1997. He'd spent a year suing over the Midazolam Protocol, 461 00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:24.940 and the Supreme Court lifted the injunction that night. The 462 00:31:24.980 --> 00:31:28.250 execution began two and a half hours late. He raised 463 00:31:28.339 --> 00:31:31.900 both middle fingers and said, I hate you, and 20 464 00:31:31.900 --> 00:31:35.400 minutes in, after two consciousness checks, he raised his right 465 00:31:35.519 --> 00:31:37.960 arm and rolled his head in a grimace. He's going 466 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:40.440 to wake up, one of his relatives whispered in the 467 00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:45.130 witness room. Dunn said the movements were involuntary. I'm confident 468 00:31:45.150 --> 00:31:51.549 he was more than unconscious at that point. Clarence Dixon, Arizona, 469 00:31:52.130 --> 00:31:58.940 May 11th, 2022 Arizona's first execution since Joseph Woods' 640 470 00:31:58.940 --> 00:32:02.690 gasps eight years earlier was of a blind, frail man 471 00:32:02.710 --> 00:32:06.450 of 66 convicted of murdering a college student, Deanna Bodowin, 472 00:32:06.809 --> 00:32:12.049 in Temp in 1978. Setting the lines took about 25 minutes. 473 00:32:12.859 --> 00:32:15.920 Two tries in the left arm failed before the right took, 474 00:32:16.500 --> 00:32:18.599 and then the team made an incision in his groin 475 00:32:18.660 --> 00:32:21.380 for the second line. They did have to wipe up 476 00:32:21.420 --> 00:32:24.660 a fair amount of blood, the AP's witness Paul Davenport said, 477 00:32:25.400 --> 00:32:28.509 Dixon grimaced and said as they worked, this is really funny, 478 00:32:28.829 --> 00:32:31.529 trying to be as thorough as possible while you're trying 479 00:32:31.569 --> 00:32:39.960 to kill me. Frank Atwood, Arizona, June 8, 2022 Atwood 480 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:43.559 was 66, with a spine so damaged that his lawyers 481 00:32:43.599 --> 00:32:46.380 had argued lying flat would be torture, and he was 482 00:32:46.420 --> 00:32:49.460 wheeled in and lifted onto a gurney propped with a pillow. 483 00:32:50.329 --> 00:32:52.549 The team set a line in his left arm and 484 00:32:52.609 --> 00:32:56.829 failed again. and again on his right. When they proposed 485 00:32:56.910 --> 00:33:01.809 the femoral vein, he asked, Why? and declined, then suggested, 486 00:33:02.210 --> 00:33:04.599 Could you try the hand? They've been able to go 487 00:33:04.630 --> 00:33:08.579 in there before. It worked. We killed a man today, 488 00:33:08.759 --> 00:33:11.420 wrote Jimmy Jenkins of the Arizona Republic, who was in 489 00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:14.200 the room as Atwood's witness after the state refused him 490 00:33:14.279 --> 00:33:17.900 a press credential. Another reporter called it the most peaceful 491 00:33:18.079 --> 00:33:27.799 execution he'd seen. Stephen Barbee, Texas November 16,

2022. Barbie 492 00:33:27.920 --> 00:33:32.140 suffocated Lisa Underwood, who was pregnant, and her seven-year-old son, Jaden, 493 00:33:32.180 --> 00:33:36.619 at Fort Worth in 2005. His arms wouldn't straighten, and 494 00:33:36.680 --> 00:33:38.750 he'd sworn in court that one would have to break 495 00:33:38.789 --> 00:33:42.329 my arms to make them. The warden had sworn in 496 00:33:42.390 --> 00:33:45.329 reply that the straps were adjustable and lines had gone 497 00:33:45.369 --> 00:33:48.539 into other places before. A line went into his right 498 00:33:48.579 --> 00:33:52.559 hand at 6.14 p.m., and it took 35 more minutes 499 00:33:52.759 --> 00:33:55.019 to get another into the left side of his neck. 500 00:33:55.960 --> 00:33:59.569 The drug started at 7.09, and at 7.35, about an 501 00:33:59.650 --> 00:34:02.289 hour and a half after he was strapped down, he 502 00:34:02.309 --> 00:34:06.089 was pronounced dead. Due to his inability to extend his arms, 503 00:34:06.250 --> 00:34:09.159 the department said, it took longer to ensure he had 504 00:34:09.239 --> 00:34:18.360 functional IV lines. Murray Hooper, Arizona, Nov. 16, 2022 The 505 00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:22.760 same day as Barbie, Arizona executed a 76-year-old man for 506 00:34:22.820 --> 00:34:26.539 two 1980 murders in Phoenix that prosecutors said were a 507 00:34:26.599 --> 00:34:30.340 contract killing. He'd admitted to police early on that he 508 00:34:30.360 --> 00:34:33.840 was involved, and for decades afterward, he said he was innocent. 509 00:34:34.760 --> 00:34:37.860 The AP and the Phoenix New Times said one try 510 00:34:37.929 --> 00:34:40.570 at his right arm failed, and the Arizona Republic said 511 00:34:40.650 --> 00:34:43.469 both arms did. The New York Times had him asking 512 00:34:43.510 --> 00:34:46.949 the witnesses, can you believe this? while the AP had 513 00:34:46.989 --> 00:34:50.110 him shaking his head and saying, I can't believe this. 514 00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:54.119 The other line went into his upper leg, bound with 515 00:34:54.179 --> 00:34:56.739 a sonogram, in what the AP and the New Times 516 00:34:56.800 --> 00:35:00.340 called the femoral artery and the Republic the femoral vein, 517 00:35:00.659 --> 00:35:02.559 and the three counts of how long it all took 518 00:35:02.860 --> 00:35:06.579 ran from 20 minutes to 40. What's taking so long, 519 00:35:06.780 --> 00:35:09.380 he asked, once they were in, the New Times reported. 520 00:35:10.360 --> 00:35:12.409 The Department of Corrections declared him dead at 10.34 a.m. 521 00:35:14.469 --> 00:35:16.789 two months later, the new governor ordered a review of 522 00:35:16.829 --> 00:35:20.550 the state's executions, and the new Attorney General put them 523 00:35:20.659 --> 00:35:28.320 on hold. Thanks for listening. I've been reading from my 524 00:35:28.380 --> 00:35:34.519 new book, Botched Executions, four centuries of failed hangings, electrocutions, gassings, injections, 525 00:35:34.699 --> 00:35:37.920 and firing squads. If you'd like a list of sources 526 00:35:38.019 --> 00:35:40.219 I used for this episode, and for the book it's 527 00:35:40.280 --> 00:35:44.230 narrated from, you can find the full list at weirddarkness.com 528 00:35:44.289 --> 00:35:48.070 slash botched executions. Scroll to the bottom of the page 529 00:35:48.190 --> 00:35:51.150 for the sources used. If you'd rather not wait for 530 00:35:51.170 --> 00:35:53.679 the next section to be shared in the podcast, the 531 00:35:53.719 --> 00:35:57.179 whole book is available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback, 532 00:35:57.579 --> 00:35:59.079 as well as Kindle Unlimited.