The New Republic has just released autop­sy pho­tos tak­en after the Florida exe­cu­tion of Angel Diaz in 2006. The exe­cu­tion was so bad­ly botched that it prompt­ed then-Governor Jeb Bush to tem­porar­i­ly sus­pend exe­cu­tions so the state’s lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dure could be reviewed. The nee­dles that should have been insert­ed into Diaz’s veins were instead pushed through into the sur­round­ing tis­sue, caus­ing exten­sive chem­i­cal burns. Dr. Jonathan Groner, a pro­fes­sor of clin­i­cal surgery at Ohio State University College of Medicine, viewed the pho­tos and said, ​“I’ve nev­er seen any­thing like this from IV infiltration…That is the kind of injury we see when a kid has fall­en in a camp­fire or set his arm on fire. My guess is some­one who got this when alive would need skin grafts to heal.” When the first dose of the three drugs did not kill Diaz, the cycle was admin­is­tered a sec­ond time. Since sodi­um thiopen­tal, the first drug used in Diaz’s exe­cu­tion, does not pro­duce anes­the­sia when inject­ed into tis­sue, Diaz was like­ly con­scious as the oth­er drugs slow­ly caused paral­y­sis and pre­vent­ed him from breath­ing. Witnesses to the exe­cu­tion said Diaz con­tin­ued to move long after he should have been uncon­scious. The autop­sy revealed large chem­i­cal burns on Diaz’s arms and the med­ical exam­in­er not­ed ​“exten­sive skin slip­page,” which occurs when the top lay­er of skin sep­a­rates, reveal­ing the white and pink sub­cu­ta­neous lay­ers beneath. The autop­sy pho­tos were recent­ly found in the case files of anoth­er Florida inmate, who used them to chal­lenge the state’s execution procedure.

(B. Crair, ​“Photos from a Botched Lethal Injection,” New Republic, May 29, 2014 (the mag­a­zine includ­ed a warn­ing that the pho­tos are graph­ic)). See Lethal Injection and Botched Executions.

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