OP-ED: Journalist Recalls Witnessing an Execution and Describes the Importance of Media Witnesses

In May 1990, Jonathan Eig, then a reporter for The New Orleans Times-Picayune, witnessed the electric-chair-execution of Dalton Prejean at Angola State Penitentiary for the 1977 murder of a Louisiana state trooper. Mr. Eig watched Mr. Prejean’s execution through an observation window, and reported seeing “his chest heave, his fists clench and his right wrist twist outward. A spark and a puff of smoke shot from the electrode attached to his left leg.” In the years following the execution, Mr. Eig regretted his decision to witness Mr. Prejean’s execution, writing that it made him “feel complicit, ashamed, a cog in a machine that dehumanized the process of death.” But more recent events, including Alabama’s execution of Kenneth Smith with nitrogen hypoxia, led Mr. Eig to change his mind. He now writes that “witness statements matter.”

At the time of Mr. Prejean’s execution, Gallup reported that about 80% of Americans supported the death penalty. In 2023, that number dropped to just 53% of Americans, with 50% of respondents believing capital punishment is applied unfairly. Mr. Eig writes that “since the 1990s, Americans have grown more skeptical of capital punishment, coming into alignment with much of the rest of the world.” This shift in “public opinion has no doubt been shaped by reports from witnesses like me who have provided accounts indicating that despite all our advances in technology we have not yet found a humane method for killing,” Mr. Eig said. He also writes that today, more Americans “live now with the greater awareness that innocent people have been convicted and executed for their crimes.”

On January 25, 2024, Alabama became the first state to use nitrogen hypoxia to execute a prisoner. In addition to the execution team, prison officials, Mr. Smith’s victims’ family, and Mr. Smith’s family, five journalists witnessed his execution. Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) protocol does not allow journalists to wear watches, bring their cellphones, or to even use pens or paper to take notes during the execution.  But even without these items, the observations of the media witnesses sharply contradicted with the statement of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who told the press that the execution was “textbook.”  Their observations about the pain and distress Mr. Smith appeared to be suffering are important as other states consider using nitrogen gas. 

When Mr. Eig witnessed the execution of Mr. Prejean, his reporting about the spark and puff of smoke from the electrodes on his leg interested attorneys and prison journalists, prompting further investigations. The Angolite, the Louisiana State Penitentiary’s prisoner-run news magazine, later reported on the electric chair, publishing photos that revealed the seared flesh of a man executed in the state’s electric chair. In 1991, the Louisiana legislature banned the use of the electric chair and required future executions to be carried out by lethal injection. 

Louisiana has not carried out an execution since 2010, but newly elected Governor Jeff Landry campaigned on a promise to resume executions and called on the Louisiana State Legislature to pass bills authorizing a return to the electric chair and use of nitrogen gas. On March 5, 2024, Gov. Landry signed these methods of execution into law, which goes into effect on July 1, 2024.

Mr. Eig writes that “as our society matures, we should resist the temptation to return to crude forms of punishment. If we can’t, we should demand accountability from the officials carrying out executions. We should permit witnesses to carry pens, paper, and cameras. As long as the death penalty remains a part of our system of justice, we shouldn’t shrink from looking at it.”