[FADPUpdate] Breaking News

[melliott3 at aol.com]

Friends,

Although it is impossible to make evidentiary sense of Judge Carven 
Angel's retreat from his previous findings, perhaps there is some 
slight solace in noting that at least, for a short while, he showed 
some backbone.  So many of his judicial counterparts have chosen to 
duck this issue altogether.  The buck is now passed to the Florida 
Supreme Court.  On Oct. 11 we will see if enough justices will find the 
courage to make a fearless, forthright and thorough search for the 
truth ... or follow Judge Angel's example and simply wash their hands 
of responsibility in the waters of denial.

Shine the light,
---Mark

DISTURBING REVERSAL ON LETHAL INJECTIONS
St. Petersburg Times Editorial
Published September 14, 2007

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/09/14/Opinion/Disturbing_reversal_o.shtml

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(FADP Note) Bispectral Index or BIS monitors have been used in lethal 
injection executions in North Carolina.  They were fraudulently 
purchased from the manufacturer, Aspect Medical Systems, which 
adamantly objects to their monitors used in executions.  Aspect Medical 
requires that purchasers certify that BIS monitors will not be used for 
this purpose.  North Carolina prison officials purposely mislead the 
manufacturer by certfying that the monitors would be used only in 
patient care.

Florida's new Lethal Injection protocols absurdly require the warden to 
assess the depth of anesthesia of the condemned prisoner prior to the 
horrifically painful paralyzing and killing chemicals being 
administered.  No state has yet to come up with a technical, medical 
and ethical solution as to how to accurately and confidently determine 
and maintain adequate anesthesia in an execution chamber setting.  
Therein lies the rub.

To read a statement on this from the President of the American Society 
of Anesthesiologists, see: http://www.asahq.org/news/asanews063006.htm


CORRECTIONS BOSSES IGNORE NEW MONITOR IN EXECUTIONS
The device reports on a prisoner's level of consciousness.
By MEG LAUGHLIN, St. Petersburg Times Staff Writer
Published September 14, 2007

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/09/14/State/Corrections_bosses_ig.shtml

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And for some good news:

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen today commuted the death sentence of 
Michael Joe Boyd (also known as Mika'eel Abdullah Abdus-Samad) to life 
imprisonment without the possibility of parole citing "grossly 
inadequate legal representation" received by Boyd during his post 
conviction hearing and procedural limitations.

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It is not about what they did...It's about what we do.

Mark Elliott, Director
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, FADP.org

2840 W. Bay Drive, #118
Belleair Bluffs, FL 33770
(727)215-9646
mark at fadp.org

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