Pharmacist “expert” witness on execution medicines

[NewOrleans]

This article is so, so full of information.  For instance, AL is going to be using nitrogen to suffocate people as a method of execution. Very long article but I’d call it a must read.

Its main focus is a pharmacist grifting by distorting his credentials so that he can be paid as an expert witness about how inducing unconsciousness using benzos prior to lethal injection is painless, all evidence to the contrary.

www.propublica.org/article/pharmacist-helps-clear-the-way-lethal-injection-protocol

The findings of the news organizations’ investigation raise questions about Buffington’s conduct as an expert witness and the credibility of the testimony itself, which has helped facilitate a number of executions where witnesses said prisoners appeared to be moving or struggling to breathe. They also highlight critical weaknesses in the judicial system, which relies on judges to act as gatekeepers for expert witnesses. When deciding whether to admit testimony, federal judges must determine that it is more likely than not to be reliable, but some jurists acknowledge this is a difficult duty when evaluating complex or technical science. Even when prisoners’ attorneys have raised concerns about Buffington’s qualifications or credibility, judges have often allowed him to testify.

In the cases Buffington has worked on, he has emerged as one of the most strident deniers of the claim that midazolam has a ceiling effect, arguing that concerns about prisoners feeling pain are “fundamentally defective.” But unlike some of his fellow state experts, who allow for the possibility of such an effect, Buffington, by his own account, has never induced or maintained anesthesia, nor witnessed an execution. His own research has focused mostly on topics such as administrative practices and health care policy.

But when he has testified about lethal injection on behalf of states, he has been squarely focused on their execution protocols. After judges approved the protocols being challenged in these cases, officials used those methods to execute 34 people, accounting for 19% of all executions nationwide since 2015.

Not all of those executions have gone as smoothly as Buffington predicted they would. In 2017, for example, Buffington was one of two health care experts who testified that Arkansas’ lethal injection protocol, which included midazolam, would ensure prisoners did not experience severe pain. The courts greenlit four executions. In three of those, prisoners lurched, moved or gulped for air…

[AJL]

I don't understand how the death penalty and the methods of execution used in this country don't violate the eighth amendment.

[cattledogkisses]

The death penalty is barbaric, unevenly applied to POC, and we should have abolished it a long time ago.

[seeyalater52]

This is probably one of the most horrifying things I’ve read this year. I remember reading about this back during some of the questionable executions a couple of years ago and it’s horrible to see that this hasn’t resolved and instead has gotten more widespread.

[msmerymac]

I don't know why there isn't a big push in this country to eliminate it once and for all. Is it because blue states have effectively just stopped implementing it? You'd think even conservative Catholics would be in favor of a blanket ban.

[StrawberryBlondie]

May 1, 2023 9:57:52 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I don't know why there isn't a big push in this country to eliminate it once and for all. Is it because blue states have effectively just stopped implementing it? You'd think even conservative Catholics would be in favor of a blanket ban.

IIRC, something like 60% of the public support the death penalty.

[sugarbear1]

If you haven't yet, please read Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (founder of the Equal Justice Institute). I am teaching it to my 8th graders right now and it is a fascinating discourse on our obsession with the death penalty. (You may have seen the movie, which is definitely worth watching but the book goes into much more depth).

My class has actually moved on from our death penalty discussions but they were collectively horrified by different methods and botched executions. Most were horrified by the death penalty, period. Thank you for sharing this article.

[TR]

May 1, 2023 6:58:12 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

The death penalty is barbaric, unevenly applied to POC, and we should have abolished it a long time ago.

This this this. I am so absolutely against any form of the death penalty. Even if it WEREN'T barbaric and unevenly applied (which it is), it is beyond fucked up that we have state sanctioned murder in our society.

[cattledogkisses]

May 1, 2023 9:57:52 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I don't know why there isn't a big push in this country to eliminate it once and for all. Is it because blue states have effectively just stopped implementing it? You'd think even conservative Catholics would be in favor of a blanket ban.

It's not as unpopular as you would think.   In prior discussions about it on this board we've had people argue in favor of the death penalty.

[NewOrleans]

I am not ethically opposed to the concept of the DP although I dearly respect Stevenson’s position on how its presence compromises the nation’s excellence and humanity. I do not, however, support the actual use of the DP because of the mass injustice behind how America sentences people to it. One of those injustices is the paying for— or inability to pay for— expert and “expert” testimony (the main subject of the article). I don’t know what should replace that, though, DP case or not, as experts should be compensated for their expertise.  Which they should have, for God’s sake.

[basilosaurus]

May 1, 2023 9:57:52 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I don't know why there isn't a big push in this country to eliminate it once and for all. Is it because blue states have effectively just stopped implementing it? You'd think even conservative Catholics would be in favor of a blanket ban.

I have a tiny modicum of respect for consistency for the Catholics I've known who were anti-choice were also strongly anti-DP. Tiny because they weren't protesting DP in any measurable amount. Andplusalso not at all the same thing as forced birth, but they did support blanket bans at least in theory b/c they'd still choose the anti-choice candidate every day and twice of Sunday.

[penguingrrl]

This is so disgusting. How in the modern world any country still has DP is beyond me. The state should never be in the practice of murder.