The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
December 12, 2016

Condemned Alabama Prisoner Struggles During Lethal Injection
------------------------------------------------------------

In Alabama Thursday night, a condemned prisoner heaved and coughed for
nearly 15 minutes after prison officials injected him with the first of
three drugs meant to stop his heart. Witnesses to the execution said
Ronald Bert Smith moved his lips, clenched a fist and opened one eye
after prison officials administered him the sedative midazolam, a drug
that has been linked to other botched executions. The execution came
after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in Smith's case in a
4-4 tie vote. Smith was placed on death row in 1994, after a judge
overruled a jury's decision to sentence him to life in prison. Alabama
is the only U.S. state to allow that practice.


.