Georgia Video Tapes Latest Execution

The 29th Execution of 2011

Georgia executed Andrew Grant DeYoung on July 21, 2011 in a Jackson prison. The 37-year-old had sought to stay his execution, arguing that pentobarbital, which Georgia and several other states are now using due to the shortage of sodium thiopental, would result in an inhumane and painful death, according to All Headline News (AHN).

DeYoung was convicted in 1993 of fatally stabbing his parents and 14-year-old sister that same year in a plan he carried out with a friend to gain what he estimated was a $480,000 inheritance that he would use to start a business.

DeYoung's death was the first videotaped execution in Georgia, and the first nationwide after a 1992 execution in California by gas chamber was ordered filmed by a judge in response to a human rights lawsuit, reported AHN.

A state superior court judge had ordered DeYoung's execution recorded by camera in response to claims from DeYoung's lawyers that replacing sodium thiopental with pentobarbital would cause the inmate pain. According to AHN, Footage of the execution is under seal and will not be released.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, one of four media outlets allowed to witness the event, DeYoung did not manifest signs that he was in pain during his death.

Pentobarbital is commonly used to euthanize animals. Its approved use for people includes treatment for severe epilepsy, which is characterized by life-threatening seizures.



To read more: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90055019?Georgia%20inmate%20dies%20in%20videotaped%20execution%20using%20animal%20sedative#ixzz1Srt06ZHQ