Dying practice: Heed growing opposition and end state executions

For years drug makers have ordered that states not use their products to execute condemned inmates; the last to do so was Phizer in 2016. As the supply of approved execution drugs dwindled, state officials turned to drugs used to euthanize animals or contracted with “compounding pharmacies,” which can mix lethal combinations of drugs. A 2015 state law prohibits the disclosure of the pharmacies’ identities, leading some people to question whether the drugs’ safety and effectiveness can be assured.

More and more people are deciding that executions are barbaric or distasteful, and turning against them. Attorney General Merrick Garland imposed a moratorium on federal executions in 2021, and 37 states have stopped them. Texas is one of only six states that scheduled executions this year.

During the current legislative session, state lawmakers should visit the growing opposition to the death penalty and considering joining those who have decided it isn’t worth the trouble and the risk.

Three death row inmates sued the state last year, alleging that using expired or unsafe drugs to kill them is inhumane. The case is pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which declined to stay the Jan. 10 execution of one of the plaintiffs, Robert Frattia. Records show that once the fatal drugs were injected into his body, it took almost a half hour for him to die.

Concerns about the drugs could have merit. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, only 20 executions were carried out in 2022. However, seven — more than a third — involved enough problems to be considered “botched,” although drug efficacy wasn’t the only problem listed. Others included executioner incompetence, failure to follow protocols or problems with the protocols themselves.

In past years Texas alone executed more than 30 people per year.

Problems with the drugs used for executions are only one reason that although public opinion polls show that half of Americans want to keep the death penalty as an option and half don’t, those in a position to decide inmates’ fate increasingly are steering away from imposing it.

Since 1972, nearly 200 death row inmates have been exonerated of their crimes, and growing evidence suggests that several innocent people have been put to death. After Texas juries in 2005 were given the option of sentencing people to life without parole, the use of the death sentence in this state also plummeted. People simply don’t want to feel responsible for making a fatal mistake.

San Benito’s Melissa Lucio is only one of many people believed to be innocent of the crimes that brought them the death penalty. Lucio awaits a new trial after a review of her case was ordered last year.

The signs are there. It has long been shown that executions are no deterrent to crime, which is proponents’ primary argument to support them. Instead of finding new ways to kill inmates and preventing the public from reviewing the process to determine if they’re humane or not, Texas should consider joining the majority of states that already have decided that they reasons to end the practice and all the problems it brings.