Gas Chamber Execution
Hydrogen Cyanide Used to Kill in United States
The earliest historical records contain evidence of capital punishment. It was mentioned in the Code of Hammurabi (1750 BCE). The Bible says that death is an appropriate penalty for more than 30 different crimes. The Draconian Code of ancient Greece imposed capital punishment for every offence.
Execution a Common Method of Dealing with Crime
By the end of the 15th century, English law recognized seven major crimes for which the penalty might be death: treason, murder, larceny, burglary, rape, and arson. By 1800, more than 200 crimes could get a person hanged.
In Canada, in 1859, the state claimed the right to bump off ne’er-do-wells for committing any one of 230 offences. A couple of the charges that could have meant a trip to the gallows included stealing turnips and being found disguised in a forest. In 1803, a 13-year-old boy was hanged in Montreal for stealing a cow.
Hydrogen Cyanide Used in U.S. Gas Chambers
Very few countries have used gassing as a method for killing condemned prisoners, the United States being the most prominent exception.
Deathpenaltyinfo.org says, “In 1924, the use of cyanide gas was introduced as Nevada sought a more humane way of executing its inmates. Gee Jon was the first person executed by lethal gas. The state tried to pump cyanide gas into Jon’s cell while he slept.”
This didn’t work because the cell was not sealed and the gas leaked out. This led to the construction of sealed gas chambers.
Gassing Inflicts Pain and Suffering on the Subject
A famous gas chamber execution took place at San Quentin on June 3, 1955 when Barbara Graham was put to death. Her life and crimes are described by capitalpunishmentuk.org. Death-watch officer Joe Ferretti was in charge of her execution. The British anti-death penalty group reports Ferretti strapped her into the gas chamber chair, “Once she was secure he said to her, ‘Now take a deep breath and it won’t bother you’ to which Barbara retorted, ‘How in the hell would you know?’ She died easily unlike some gas chamber victims.” Two films, both with the title I Want to Live, were made about Barbara Graham’s life.
Witnesses to Gas Chamber Executions
Those who have witnessed a gas chamber execution say it’s clearly very distressing and probably very painful for the condemned person. The hydrogen cyanide gas causes a choking death. It took Jimmy Lee Gray more than eight minutes to expire in the Mississippi gas chamber in 1983. Suffocating and purple-faced, he died repeatedly slamming his head into a steel pole behind the chair he was strapped into.
Deathpenaltyinfo.org quotes former San Quentin, California, warden, Clifton Duffy, as saying, “At first there is evidence of extreme horror, pain, and strangling. The eyes pop. The skin turns purple and the victim begins to drool.”
Gas Chamber Called Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Descriptions such as these were used by advocates for abolition of the death penalty to take their pleas to U.S. courts. Walter LaGrand, the last person executed in a gas chamber in March 1999, had court rulings in his favour, but they didn't save him. His case is described by executedtoday.com.
This execution took place despite a decision by a federal judge in 1994 that the method violated the Eight Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that persons not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.
“Shortly before Walter LaGrand’s scheduled execution,” wrote Matthias Lehmphul (March 3, 2008), “the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay whose logic would have banned lethal gas forever. This was overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court, leaving it as it remains today.”
Gas chamber executions are still possible in Arizona, California, Maryland, Missouri, and Wyoming. However, given the certainty of a legal challenge the method is unlikely ever to be used again.
See also: Execution by Guillotine
Gas Chamber now Used for Lethal Injections.
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