Outrage Over the Dennis McGuire Execution in Ohio
The execution of condemned Ohio inmate Dennis McGuire would have taken less than 5 minutes if the State of Ohio had not changed the lethal drug cocktail used to carry out the death penalty. Instead Dennis McGuire gasped for air and struggled to die for more than 15 minutes on January 17, 2014.
When the time tested mix of drugs used for lethal injection were unavailable the State of Ohio decided to ‘try’ some new drugs for the first time. The Dennis McGuire execution is the horrific result of their experiment.
The death penalty is part of our society in states that still permit it. Whether you are for or against the death penalty the gross negligence involved in the execution of Dennis McGuire deserves your attention and more importantly your outrage. Beyond the negligent behavior we must consider the grave violation of our personal liberty when our government engages in cruel and unusual punishment.
The actual process of executing an inmate in America has always been swift whether it be by hanging, firing squad, electrocution or lethal injection. The execution of Dennis McGuire was anything but swift. What should have been less than 5 minutes was much longer and included a great deal of suffering by the condemned inmate.
Dennis McGuire was a very bad man convicted of multiple heinous crimes. If you support the death penalty you likely feel this man deserved to die. But did he deserve to die in such a painful, cruel and prolonged way?
Our legal system is far from perfect and wrongfully convicted people have been found long after the judge and jury have made their verdict. Many states of placed a moratorium on the death penalty due to the possibility of wrongful conviction. Ohio is not one of those states. Perhaps the time has come for Ohio to re-think their capital punishment policy. We aren’t suggesting that Dennis McGuire was innocent or that he should be spared the death penalty for his crimes. If a government is unable to carry out the death penalty swiftly and without massive suffering they should be prohibited from carrying out such punishments
The execution of Dennis McGuire is an example of government disregarding our personal liberties, rights and freedoms. No matter what your position on the death penalty we can all agree that our government has no right to carry out the death penalty in a cruel and unusual way. Read more about the Dennis McGuire execution here.