Deborah Denno comments to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette about the execution of Dennis McGuire, which took 15 minutes and which has reignited debate over lethal injection because the execution took unusually long and because Ohio was using a new, untested cocktail of drugs in the procedure.
“Whether there were choking sounds or it was just snorting, the execution didn’t go the way it was supposed to go,” said Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham Law School and an expert in lethal injection cases. “Usually, lethal injection takes about four or five minutes, if done properly.”
“A different procedure was used in the last four executions, depending on which state they were in,” Denno said. “It certainly increases the likelihood or the risk that there will be some sort of problem.”
“I certainly believe there has been an increase in problems,” Denno said. “I think this is the worst situation that lethal injection has been in since it was first administered 32 years ago.”
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