An Alabama inmate sentenced to die for the 1994 murder of his girlfriend was subjected to hours of pain during what may be one of the longest executions in United States history, according to an analysis carried out by a human rights organization.
Joe Nathan James Jr. died by lethal injection on July 28 at the William C Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. In the moments prior, he seemed almost entirely unresponsive and offered no final words or thoughts before his body was pumped with a deadly cocktail of drugs. He was ultimately pronounced dead at 9:27 p.m., nearly more than three hours after his execution was scheduled to be carried out.
The mystery regarding what exactly occurred in the time leading up to James’ final moments in the execution chamber sparked concern among media witnesses and activists. In a bid to get a better understanding of how the lethal procedure unfolded, human rights group Reprieve US funded an independent analysis of James’ body over the weekend. Journalist Elizabeth Bruenig attended the autopsy in Birmingham and provided a detailed account of her experience in an article published in the Atlantic.
Alabama Department of Corrections staff seemingly attempted to insert IV catheters into each of James’ hands just above the knuckles, Bruenig wrote, citing the puncture wounds on his body.
“Then it looked as though the execution team had tried again, forcing needles into each of his wrists, with the same bleeding beneath the skin and the same indigo mottling around the puncture wounds,” she continued.
“On the inside of James’s left arm, another puncture site, another pool of deep bruising, and then, a scant distance above, a strange, jagged incision, at James’s inner elbow.”
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The slice on James’ arm indicates ADOC staff attempted to cut into his body in a bid to get better access to a vein for the injection. Associate professor of anesthesiology and surgery at Emory University, Joel Zivot, who assisted with probe, told Bruenig the practice is a “stark departure from what would be done in a medical setting.”
“I can’t tell if local anesthetic was first infused into the skin, as slicing deep into the skin with a sharp surgical blade in an awake person without local anesthesia would be extremely painful,” he continued. “In a medical setting, ultrasound has virtually eliminated the need for a cutdown, and the fact that a cutdown was utilized here is further evidence that the IV team was unqualified for the task in a most dramatic way.”
Other experts pointed out another pair of incisions on James’ left arm were consistent with trauma that may have been caused by James himself, as he struggled against the ties restraining him to the gurney.
On the day of the execution, four members of the media were transported by van to Holman Correctional Facility at about 6:30 p.m. Upon their arrival, the reporters were told to wait in the parked vehicle — where they remained without their phones for hours. Eventually they were allowed into the chamber for James’ brief execution, unaware of what had unfolded prior.
“Death row prisoners are now executed twice: the torturous procedure behind the scenes and the show for witnesses,” US Reprieve said in a tweet about James’ death.
The state performed its own autopsy on James at the Mobile medical examiner’s office after the execution. Results from the state’s official autopsy have not yet been made available. They maintain the lethal injection occurred without issue.
With News Wire Services