Georgia Superior Court Judge Bensonetta Tipton Lane has ordered that the Department of Corrections (DOC) video­tape the upcom­ing exe­cu­tion of Andrew Grant DeYoung (pic­tured). The exe­cu­tion was first sched­uled for July 20, but after the Georgia Supreme Court upheld Judge Lane’s order, the DOC decid­ed to move DeYoung’s exe­cu­tion to July 21. Videotaping of exe­cu­tions is very rare, with the last known instance in 1992 in California, also as a result of a court order. Judge Lane ordered that the tap­ing not inter­fere with the exe­cu­tion and that it main­tain the anonymi­ty of those involved in the pro­ce­dure. The tape would be sealed for the judge’s exclu­sive use. The Attorney General’s office is chal­leng­ing the video­tap­ing, assert­ing it could inter­fere with secu­ri­ty and vio­late state laws regard­ing who may wit­ness an exe­cu­tion. Lane ordered the video­tap­ing after attor­neys for anoth­er death row inmate, Gregory Walker, claimed that Georgia’s lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dure caus­es unnec­es­sary pain and suf­fer­ing. Brian Kammer, Walker’s lawyer, said, ​“At this point, we need an objec­tive record­ing to elim­i­nate any dis­pute as to what tran­spires in the next lethal injec­tion. If there’s noth­ing to hide, then the Department of Corrections should want to allow scruti­ny and a record­ing of its practices.”

(B. Rankin, ​“State seeks to stop video­tap­ing of exe­cu­tion,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 21, 2011.) See also Lethal Injection. Robert Harris’s exe­cu­tion in the gas cham­ber in California in April 1992 was video­taped on the order of fed­er­al District Court Judge Marilyn Patel. The tape was nev­er made pub­lic and report­ed­ly was destroyed. California lat­er switched to lethal injec­tion as their method of exe­cu­tion. The Harris exe­cu­tion was the first after the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in California in 1978. Lethal injec­tions have been chal­lenged part­ly because one of the drugs typ­i­cal­ly used par­a­lyzes the inmate, mak­ing any obser­va­tion of pos­silbe pain dif­fi­cult or impossible.

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