07/25/2014 // West Palm Beach, Florida, US // JusticeNewsFlash // Justice News Flash // (press release)

San Francisco – A federal appeals judge is arguing for the return of firing squad executions amid controversy over reports of botched lethal injections. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals expressed in a recent interview his view on lethal injection.

Kozinski stated in an Associated Press interview that use of lethal injections disguised the brutal nature of capital punishment. The judge’s comments follow reports about the execution of convicted murderer, Joseph Rudolph Wood III, who is stated to have gasped for air for over an hour during his two-hour execution by lethal injection.

Kozinski is quoted by the AP as stating in dissent to a court ruling that delayed the execution of Wood, which was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court, “Using drugs meant for individuals with medical needs to carry out executions is a misguided effort to mask the brutality of executions by making them look serene and beautiful — like something any one of us might experience in our final moments.”

The judge further argued, “But executions are, in fact, brutal, savage events, and nothing the state tries to do can mask that reality. Nor should we. If we as a society want to carry out executions, we should be willing to face the fact that the state is committing a horrendous brutality on our behalf.”

This report is provided by Justice News Flash – San Francisco Legal News

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