Wouldn’t that be ex-post facto? Or is it the conviction date that counts and not the date of the offense?
I daresay the legal wrangling over that could delay any execution for a looooong time.
I doubt that a different method of execution would violate the ex post facto clauses. The relevant statute hasn’t changed, the punishment imposed by the court for murder is the same. Unless the allowable methods are separately statutory?
But surely an 8th Amendment challenge on the basis that the method is deliberately intended to be traumatic and painful would be likely.
As between a botched poisoning / sedative overdose, a botched electrocution, and a modern rifle slug through the heart or head, I think the traumatic and painful tag belongs attached to the first two options, not the third.
YMMV of course, but IMO the whole idea of the first two methods is entirely to avoid the spectators seeing any blood. Not to spare the executed any pain or suffering.
Agree. Yes, the condemned would be in terror as he was led in and tied to the stake, but I can’t imagine that lying on a hospital bed while techs insert an IV and prepare a lethal injection is any less stressful. And the actual execution is quick.
For that matter, I’m not sure it wouldn’t be more humane (insofar as any death penalty is humane, which is a whole 'nother debate) to bring back the guillotine, which was specifically designed by its creator to be fast and painless.
At least hanging from a tree appears to be off the table in Tennessee.
For now.
I could just imagine the illiterate yokels of the Tennessee legislature trying to write an adequate description of what constitutes a suitable tree.
Some details released about what police confiscated in the search of Bryan Kohberger’s parents house. I’m not sure why this is news, as it seems they just took everything that belonged to him.
If he got rid of the knife, it seems unlikely he kept bloody bedclothes and took them all the way across the country. I would guess that many people living in a winter climate have the clothing they found. I know I have a black facemask, black gloves and black clothing. I also have surgical gloves in the house. A book about criminal psychology owned by someone taking the classes he took seems mundane. It sounds like they really tore the car apart. I think that would be their best chance for trace evidence.
Hopefully, lab testing will pick up some kind of trace evidence from all that stuff, but I expect his phone and computer are more likely to be useful.
Think about it for a moment. First the criminal is put to sleep, THEN a lethal injection is given. What is experienced is not any different than going into surgery. The person just goes to sleep.
I’ve watched people die slowly of cancer. Lethal injection is a whole lot better way to go and is actively sought out by people who know they’re going to suffer. It might be the easiest way to die.
I’m not seeing a slam dunk case here. The biggest evidence seems to be his car near the scene.
He lived 15 miles away. It’s not surprising his phone often tracks near that area and the victims University.
I agree he’s a good suspect and probably committed the crimes. Proving it in court beyond a reasonable doubt will need more evidence.
He is an odd duck. Obviously his OCD controls his life. I’m surprised he kept focused and earned a Masters degree.
What about the empty knife sheath lying on the bed next to one of the victims that had his DNA on it?
For me, that’s the biggest evidence.
I forgot the knife sheath. It’s strange he ditched the knife and forgot the sheath. That’s why there’s never a perfect crime. Suspects always forget something and make mistakes.
There is probable cause. I’m glad he’s in jail.
You don’t think the prisoner isn’t terrified when the techs are putting in the IV to sedate him before stopping his heart? It’s not at all like preparing for surgery, because the surgical patient assumes he’s going to wake up afterwards. The condemned man knows he’s not. Of course a lethal injection is better than dying of cancer or Covid or sickle cell anemia, but that wasn’t the issue; is it better than dying by firing squad or guillotine? That was the question.
No, the problem is how often the injections go wrong.
Compared to what? Getting stabbed to death in bed by an intruder? If it’s terrifying for a convicted killer to die peacefully then there’s a way to avoid it.
A death qualified attorney has been added to the defense.
Well, yes, but as I said earlier, that’s a whole separate discussion.
This is good news. After all, if the murderer is obsessed with crime and, specifically, murder, he needs to study it right up to the final conclusion. We can then publish his findings posthumously and divide all the profits between the four suffering families of the young people he butchered.
I would be much more panicked about a firing squad or guillotine. Those terrify me (especially the guillotine). I wouldn’t be happy with lethal injection, but I would be able to lay there and accept my fate.
I think it’s probable that the authorities have more evidence than what’s been released to the media, and I also think it’s probable that the totality of the evidence that they have is easily strong enough to convict on.
But yeah, from our perspective, it does look like there’s still a reasonable doubt.