[FADPUpdate] Botched L.I. Execution in Florida

[Abraham J. Bonowitz]

While it is not reported in this Associated Press 
story, FADP spokesman Mark Elliot was on the 
scene outside the Florida State prison and 
reports that members of the media who witnessed 
the execution say they had to administer the 
lethal injection TWICE.  He also reports that the 
family of Angel Diaz was despondent, wailing and 
crying and beating the ground for over an 
hour.  One passed out and paramedics were 
called.  Those who have witnessed outside the 
prison at many executions report that they have 
never experienced such a traumatic display of grief at an execution.

At the press conference, the DOC spokesperson was 
unable to answer many questions from the media, 
repeatedly saying "we'll get back to you on that."

The *only* video media present was Spanish 
language - also a rarity for Florida.  I am sure 
there will be much made of this - certainly in 
Puerto Rico.  According to Mark, the delegation 
from PR outside the prison told him they had 
generated more than 15,000 individual appeals for 
clemency to Jeb Bush, which were of course, ignored.

As one sign at the prison read, "Execution in Progress, MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

--abe



http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_DIAZ_EXECUTION_FLOL-?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

Dec 13, 7:48 PM EST

Man executed for Miami bar slaying takes 34 minutes to die

By RON WORD
Associated Press Writer


STARKE, Fla. (AP) -- Angel Nieves Diaz, who was 
convicted of murdering a Miami topless bar 
manager 27 years ago, was executed by lethal 
injection Wednesday, appearing to grimace before 
dying 34 minutes after receiving the first dose of chemicals.

The manner of his death will likely rekindle the 
argument that Florida's method of execution 
constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

Diaz, 55, was pronounced dead at 6:36 p.m., 
despite his protests of innocence and requests 
for clemency made by the governor of his native 
Puerto Rico. He appeared to move for 24 minutes 
after the first injection. His eyes were open, 
his mouth opened and closed and his chest rose and fell.

His final appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court 
challenged the chemicals used in the state's 
procedure, but it was rejected about an hour 
before his execution began. Defense attorneys 
have been unsuccessfully challenging Florida's 
three-chemical method as unconstitutional cruel 
and unusual punishment because it results in 
extreme pain that an inmate cannot express 
because one of the drugs is a paralyzing agent.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl 
Plessinger said she doesn't believe Diaz felt any 
pain. She said he had liver disease, which 
required them to give him a second dose of lethal chemicals.

"It was not unanticipated. The metabolism of the 
drugs to the liver is slowed," Plessinger said.

But Brandon Hensler, a spokesman for ACLU of 
Florida, said, "This is a classic example of how 
Florida's death penalty system is broken and 
needs to be overhauled or abolished."

Moments before his execution, Diaz again denied 
killing Joseph Nagy during a robbery at the Velvet Swing Lounge.

"The state of Florida is killing an innocent 
person," Diaz said from the gurney. "The state of 
Florida is committing a crime, because I am 
innocent. The death penalty is not only a form of 
vengeance, but also a cowardly act by humans. I'm 
sorry for what is happening to me and my family 
who have been put through this."

It also claimed that a key witness in his trial had recanted his testimony.

A group of Diaz's relatives, many from Puerto 
Rico, waited in a pasture across the highway from 
Florida State Prison. State policy prohibits a 
condemned inmate's family members from witnessing the execution.

"He is at peace with God. He just wants people to 
know he is innocent," Solsirette Otero-Barahona, 
of Orlando, said before the execution. She calls 
Diaz her uncle, although he is her father's first cousin.

Puerto Rican officials, including Gov. Acevedo 
Vila and Senate President Kenneth D. McClintock, 
wrote Gov. Jeb Bush asking him to stop the 
execution, but he declined. Puerto Rico, a U.S. 
territory, abolished capital punishment in 1929. 
Human rights groups in Puerto Rico asked drivers 
to keep their lights on during the day as an act 
of protest and that churches planned to ring 
their bells at the time of his execution.

Diaz was executed for Nagy's Dec. 29, 1979, 
murder. There were no eyewitnesses to the 
shooting. Most of the club's employees and 
patrons were locked in a restroom, which the 
robbers blocked with a cigarette machine. One 
dancer hid under the bar, but says she didn't see anything.

The case remained unsolved for four years until 
1983, when Diaz's girlfriend told police he was 
involved in the crimes. Diaz, who had a previous 
conviction for second-degree murder in Puerto 
Rico, and Angel "Sammy" Toro were charged with 
the slaying. A third man, "Willie," was never 
identified, according to a summary of his case by 
the Florida Commission on Capital Crimes.

At Diaz's trial, he was forced to wear shackles 
as he conducted his own defense, with the 
assistance of an attorney. He was convicted and 
the jury recommended he be sentenced to death by 
an 8-4 vote. Toro cut a deal with prosecutors and 
was sentenced to life in prison.

Greg Smith, a Miami-Dade police detective, who 
said he was the lead investigator in the case, 
said of Diaz, "The death penalty was made for 
people like him. He was a pretty bad guy."

In an interview with Notiseis television 
broadcast Tuesday evening in Puerto Rico, Diaz 
said, "I feel at peace. Yes, nervous, but without 
fear because I feel close to God and that helps me feel good."

Before his execution, Diaz was joined by Dale 
Recinella, a prison chaplain, and received last 
rites from a priest, Jose Maniyangat.

A cousin, Maria Magdalena Ortero, said Diaz had 
asked his relatives to accept his fate.

"He asked us to remain calm, that we understand 
that he is tired of being jailed alive for 21 
years. He said man can take away his life, but 
his spirit will belong to God," she said. "Yes, 
that we should cry, but that it should not destroy us."

Diaz was the 21st and final person to be executed 
during Bush's eight-year tenure, which ends Jan. 
2, and the 64th inmate to die since Florida 
resumed executions in 1979 after a 15-year 
hiatus. It was the fourth execution this year.

Diaz did not order a last meal, so he was served 
Wednesday's prison supper of shredded turkey with 
taco seasoning, shredded cheese, rice, pinto 
beans, tortilla shells, apple crisp and ice tea, Plessinger said.

The court issues raised by Diaz included a 
challenge to Florida's method of lethal 
injection. The arguments were similar to those 
made earlier this year by three other death row 
inmates who all lost their appeals and were executed.

----

Associated Press reporter Lilliam Irizarry in San 
Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.

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