It took Angel Nieves Diaz 34 minutes to die. The state of Florida executed him at 6:36pm Thursday using the so-called humane process of lethal injection. Except in Diaz's case it was neither humane or immediately lethal. He was breathing and moving during most of the process and grimaced when the end finally came after a rare second dose of chemicals had to be administered. It usually takes 15 minutes for a condemned inmate to die according to AP reporter Ron Wood who has witnessed 20 executions. According to Wood, a minute after the chemicals began flowing into his body, Diaz began grimacing, licking his lips and blowing.
Florida switched to lethal injection after two inmate's heads caught fire in the electric chair and a third had a nose bleed. So not only can that state not conduct fair elections, it has trouble judicially murdering its inmates. Way to go, Florida!
For the record, Diaz was convicted of murdering a topless bar manager in 1979. Diaz's final statement was, "The death penalty is not only a form of vengeance, but a cowardly act by humans. I'm sorry for what is happening to me and my family who have been put through this."
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