OK so maybe I’m over-thinkin Robot Chicken a little, but here goes…
I just saw the Robot Chicken sketch where the prison guards carrying out a execution get a last minute reprive from the governor, but decide to execute him anyway for laugh (yeah, its a pretty dark show).
So in this case would they be charged with murder ? What about more “grey area” cases ? What about if the repreive arrives but there is some clerical error or doubt about its authenticity ? What if the prison clock is wrong and they execute him early (and hence before the reprive arrives that would ahve saved him). I realisze these are are exceptionally unlikely to actually happen, but they could do and presumably the possibity, however slight, of being charged with murder is a big deal to the guy who has to flip the switch.
Where is the line between a prison guard legimately carrying out his duty and killing someone, and just killing someone.
The state has a duty to protect the life of someone in their custody unless the person is legally about to be executed. That’s one reason why a prisoner who tries to kill himself the day before his execution will be treated – because the state has a duty to.
In your scenario, there is no longer an obligation to carry out the execution, because the governor issued a reprieve. As such, the state has an obligation to see to protect the life of the prisoner. That being the case, if the guards killed him (knowing that the reprieve had been issued), they would be just as liable as if they killed any other person.
I realized that I didn’t answer these questions. Again, just my guesses.
It shouldn’t take too long to verify whether or not a reprieve has been granted. If they can’t hold up the execution for a few minutes to check this out and it turns out that the reprieve had been granted (and they knew that there was a possibility of it being a real reprieve) then prosecute.
An atomic clock isn’t a terribly big expense either – but that would probably fall on the warden of the prison, not the executioners. As long as the executioners thought the time was right, they’d probably be off the hook.
In any event, isn’t the warden always there to supervise anyway?
Not altogether unlikely. Something of the sort has actually happened on at least one occasion. In the case of Caryl Chessman a last minute stay was granted, but the secretary misdialed the number. By the time she got through he was already in the gas chamber. I never heard that she faced any consequences for her error.
My understanding is that many states establish an open line to the Governor’s office as part of the procedure for all executions. That way there’s no possibility of a last-minute order to hold up the execution not getting through for technical reasons.
But in that case the person dialing the number was not the one executing the prisoner, so it would be no different to any other mishap that led indirectly to death (say a receptionist in a hospital misdialing a vital call).
The point of the OP is that legally speaking the people that actually kill the prisoner must have some legal sanction that protects them from prosecution, when does that sanction stop ? When are they no longer protected ?
Ditto. I was under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that at some point just prior to go time, either the Governor’s office calls in to say “there will be no stay of execution granted” or the warden calls and asks for the final go.
Not sure how it works in the states, but here (Pakistan) you have a death warrent which specifically orders the executioner to carry out the sentence at the given time and place and is signed by the President of Pakistan him/herself and the death warrent is only ever signed if all legal channels have been exhausted. So such a senario is unlikly.