D. Armenta
PlagmanMother Sues After Son's Execution Takes 90 Minutes
The mother of Joseph Clark, whose execution took nearly 90 minutes, is suing the head of Ohio’s prisons on the grounds that the execution “amounted to unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment,” not unlike the cold-blooded murder for which her son was put on death row in the first place.
“I was told it would take 20 minutes,” said Mrs. Clark, “but I was there an extra hour. I hit three red lights while I was leaving, I was late to my BINGO game; I ain’t no spring chicken no mo’, I ain’t gots all day to sit around and watch y’all play with my boy’s arm and whatnot. Hopefully this lawsuit pans out; Joseph woulda wanted his momma to get paid…”
Encouraged by Mrs. Clark’s boldness, a group of 15 Ohio inmates are “challenging the state’s injection process, arguing the procedure may cause prisoners to suffer during an execution.” (AP) In a related story, the parents of the people who were murdered by those 15 Ohio inmates are challenging that the state’s injection process does not cause the prisoners to suffer enough.
With Joseph Clark, the prison staff had difficulty in locating a useable vein, which doctors assured the state had nothing to do with his daily diet of fried chicken and chitlins. The one vein they did try to use collapsed; Mrs. Clark is expected to file an additional lawsuit seeking compensation for emotional trauma she endured after having to witness the collapse of the aforementioned vein.
The execution was further delayed when, according to their written reports, the execution team administered the lethal injection through the original IV line (with the collapsed vein) by mistake. Having to use a second dose of the lethal concoction cost the state an additional $27,000, which is about 1/50th of what it cost to house and feed Clark during his 22 years on death row.
During the first injection attempt, Clark lifted himself up and said, “It don’t work.” A nearby guard quickly corrected Clark, “No, Joseph, you should’ve said: ‘it does not work,’ now let’s try again. I swear; you’re going to get this right if it kills me.”
Clark was sentenced to death in November 1984 for killing gas station attendant David Manning. During the subsequent attempt at finding a vein, Clark asked, “Can you just give me something by mouth to end this?” David Manning’s father, who was in attendance after waiting 22 years, agreed with Clark, “How bout you boys just let me have a go at it? It’ll take bout two, maybe three minutes, tops. Could get a little messy, though.”
The ACLU has come out in support of Mrs. Clark, sympathetic to the pain she must be feeling after such a horrific 90 minutes. “Mrs. Clark is a strong, brave woman,” said Jack Rupert, a spokesman for the ACLU, “but she shouldn’t have to be. Where in the Constitution does it say that mothers of condemned murderers should have to watch their child sit in a chair for almost 90 minutes?” Attorneys for the ACLU were quick to point out that Rupert was correct in his interpretation of the Constitution since the Supreme Court ruled in Gacy vs. Lots of People that the 8th amendment only applied to non-state commissioned executions.
The problems finding Clark’s vein caused the state to change its procedure for administering lethal injections to ensure that veins are found more carefully, so as to avoid injuring the patient before he is executed, and more quickly, to avoid making murderers spend any additional time on this planet.
However, despite these radical changes, one year later Christopher Netwon again took 90 minutes to die, and this time it would upset the wrong people by overlapping with American Idol.
“I was told it would take 20 minutes,” said Mrs. Clark, “but I was there an extra hour. I hit three red lights while I was leaving, I was late to my BINGO game; I ain’t no spring chicken no mo’, I ain’t gots all day to sit around and watch y’all play with my boy’s arm and whatnot. Hopefully this lawsuit pans out; Joseph woulda wanted his momma to get paid…”
Encouraged by Mrs. Clark’s boldness, a group of 15 Ohio inmates are “challenging the state’s injection process, arguing the procedure may cause prisoners to suffer during an execution.” (AP) In a related story, the parents of the people who were murdered by those 15 Ohio inmates are challenging that the state’s injection process does not cause the prisoners to suffer enough.
With Joseph Clark, the prison staff had difficulty in locating a useable vein, which doctors assured the state had nothing to do with his daily diet of fried chicken and chitlins. The one vein they did try to use collapsed; Mrs. Clark is expected to file an additional lawsuit seeking compensation for emotional trauma she endured after having to witness the collapse of the aforementioned vein.
The execution was further delayed when, according to their written reports, the execution team administered the lethal injection through the original IV line (with the collapsed vein) by mistake. Having to use a second dose of the lethal concoction cost the state an additional $27,000, which is about 1/50th of what it cost to house and feed Clark during his 22 years on death row.
During the first injection attempt, Clark lifted himself up and said, “It don’t work.” A nearby guard quickly corrected Clark, “No, Joseph, you should’ve said: ‘it does not work,’ now let’s try again. I swear; you’re going to get this right if it kills me.”
Clark was sentenced to death in November 1984 for killing gas station attendant David Manning. During the subsequent attempt at finding a vein, Clark asked, “Can you just give me something by mouth to end this?” David Manning’s father, who was in attendance after waiting 22 years, agreed with Clark, “How bout you boys just let me have a go at it? It’ll take bout two, maybe three minutes, tops. Could get a little messy, though.”
The ACLU has come out in support of Mrs. Clark, sympathetic to the pain she must be feeling after such a horrific 90 minutes. “Mrs. Clark is a strong, brave woman,” said Jack Rupert, a spokesman for the ACLU, “but she shouldn’t have to be. Where in the Constitution does it say that mothers of condemned murderers should have to watch their child sit in a chair for almost 90 minutes?” Attorneys for the ACLU were quick to point out that Rupert was correct in his interpretation of the Constitution since the Supreme Court ruled in Gacy vs. Lots of People that the 8th amendment only applied to non-state commissioned executions.
The problems finding Clark’s vein caused the state to change its procedure for administering lethal injections to ensure that veins are found more carefully, so as to avoid injuring the patient before he is executed, and more quickly, to avoid making murderers spend any additional time on this planet.
However, despite these radical changes, one year later Christopher Netwon again took 90 minutes to die, and this time it would upset the wrong people by overlapping with American Idol.
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Actually, Mr. Clark was kind enough to kill Mr. Manning in much quicker fashion. The least we could have done was to reciprocate by shooting him instead of dragging the execution out. Tsk tsk to us.
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