A dying man on Death Row

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

THE ISSUE: The case of Daniel Lee Siebert illustrates the absurdities of capital punishment in Alabama. 

Gov. Bob Riley has ample reason to put off the execution of convicted killer Daniel Lee Siebert. 

Siebert is scheduled to be put to death Oct. 25 - that is, if pancreatic cancer doesn't kill him first. True story.

Nobody disputes that Siebert is in the latter stages of cancer. Nobody disputes that he will be dead within a matter of months, if not weeks. Yet, Riley has not decided whether to proceed with plans to execute Siebert for the 1986 murder of 24-year-old Sherri Weathers, her two young children and her neighbor. 

Siebert argues that the substances used in lethal injection might interact with his pain medication and cause him undue suffering. It's a weird argument, for sure. Then again, there's something absurd about the state of Alabama executing a man who is about to die anyway. 

Siebert's sickness isn't the only reason for Riley to postpone this execution. The larger reason is an ongoing debate about lethal injection. No execution should be carried out while the issue is unsettled and is, in fact, pending in courts - including an active lethal injection challenge in Alabama as well as a Kentucky case that is going to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The hearing before the nation's highest court is the culmination of a growing chorus of concerns about what was supposed to be a humane way to kill prisoners. After lethal injections went terribly wrong in places such as Florida and Ohio, a number of states began to review their execution procedures. Questions have been raised not just about the combination of chemicals used to put people to death but about the qualifications of those who administer the drugs. The key question is whether the traditional protocol for lethal injections might allow inmates to feel pain and suffer an unconstitutionally cruel death. 

Even though prosecutors have defended Alabama's procedures, the state decided to add extra precautionary steps anyway to ensure inmates are properly anesthetized before drugs are injected to kill them. 

Last month, Riley opted to put off another inmate's execution to allow time for the new procedures to be put in place. (Riley needs to go the extra mile in that case and order DNA tests, too.) 

In the meantime, the governor should call a halt to Siebert's execution and let him die on God's timetable.

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