MISSOURI EXECUTIONS A 'CLINICAL PROCESS' WITH SET PROCEDURES

After attending 11 executions at the Potosi Correctional Center, veteran newsman Bob Priddy knows the routine.

Arrive at the prison at 10:30 p.m. Wait in a holding area with other witnesses for the state until a few minutes before midnight, when they are taken to the execution area.

At 12:01 a.m., the blinds in the execution chamber are pulled to reveal the inmate, who is strapped to a gurney with intravenous tubes connected to his body. The first of three drugs is injected. Within minutes, the inmate is pronounced dead. The witnesses are escorted from the area.

"My impression of the process in Missouri is it is a very clinical process," said Priddy, the news director of Missourinet. "It is not very dramatic from an objective observer's point of view."

Missourinet has had a reporter witness every execution in Missouri since the state resumed capital punishment in 1989. Priddy said executions, while serious events, aren't as dramatic as one might think, at least for someone with no emotional attachment to the case.

"When I went down to cover my first one, I was interested as to what my reaction would be," Priddy said. "My reaction was I really had no reaction. In terms of a lot of the drama you see in Hollywood depictions of hangings, electrocutions and lethal injections, it doesn't happen that way."

The Missouri Department of Corrections, which carries out all its executions at the Potosi, Mo., facility, has a well-developed system, said Tim Kniest, a department spokesman. That routine begins with isolating the condemned inmate once the date for execution has been set and, barring a last-minute stay, ends with the pronouncement of death.

Why 12:01 a.m.?

All executions in Missouri are scheduled for 12:01 a.m. on a Wednesday. Kniest said this is primarily done for the purpose of managing the prisoner population. At that time, prisoners are already in bed and the lights are out.

If executions were held at another time of day, prisoners would have to be locked down, which would disrupt the normal daily routine.

Also, Kniest said, the prison relies on Washington County sheriff's deputies and the Missouri Highway Patrol to help manage the anti-capital punishment protesters who always gather outside on the nights of scheduled executions.

"If it was earlier in the day, their resources would be stretched thinner," Kniest said.

However, neither state law nor the execution warrant requires sentence to be carried out at 12:01 a.m. Kniest said scheduling the execution at the beginning of the day set on the warrant gives officials the remainder of the day to address any last-minute problems or issues that might arise.

"You could have an execution still take place that day, but not take place until the next afternoon to give the authorities time to handle those issues," Kniest said.

The final days

During the years that pass while so-called Missouri death-row inmates await the disposition of their sentence, they are housed in the general prison population.

"We don't have a death row, per se, like we did in the old days and like many other states still do," Kniest said.

When the standard appeals are exhausted and an execution date set, however, the inmate is removed from the general population and taken into protective custody. Kniest said this is done to deprive the condemned of the opportunity to settle any grudges with inmates.

The prisoner remains in protective custody until 48 to 72 hours prior to the date of execution. At that time he is taken to a holding cell near the execution chamber.

During these final hours, the prisoner is closely supervised. "A corrections officer is with the inmate all hours of the day, every day," Kniest said.

However, the inmate is allowed personal visits with family, friends, clergy or his attorneys. Physical contact, though, is prohibited.

The prisoner also has access to a phone and may make calls if he wishes.

Corrections officials spend this period waiting for instructions from the courts regarding any last-minute appeals or from the governor's office concerning clemency, pardon or commutation of sentence.

"We do not do anything during that time except for wait for any decisions to be made," Kniest said.

Up until the time of execution, corrections officials are in constant communication with the staffs of the governor and attorney general.

"We do not proceed until we are told to proceed," Kniest said.

The final hours

At about 6:30 p.m. the day before the scheduled execution, visits from family and friends are stopped. "He is allowed to see his spiritual adviser and attorney throughout the evening," Kniest said.

If there is a stay, the inmate remains in the holding cell that evening and is returned to general population the next day. If not, at about 11:30 p.m. the inmate is taken to the execution chamber, strapped to the gurney and connected to the equipment that will deliver the fatal drugs.

Around this time, the witnesses are taken into the execution area. There are three different classes of witnesses. Each group is kept separate from the others.

The first group consists of friends and family of the victims of the crime for which the inmate is being executed.

The second includes those the inmate has asked to attend, including family, friends, attorneys or relatives.

The last group is the witnesses for the state. This includes the media, police and prosecutors who worked the case and even private citizens who have no connection to the case but who wish to witness an execution.

All potential witnesses must submit an application to the Department of Corrections, which runs background checks on applicants and has final approval over who attends.

At 12:01 a.m., the execution warrant is read and the first of three drugs is delivered. The three drugs are administered one minute apart.

The first drug, sodium pentathol, renders the inmate unconscious. The second, panronium bromide, stops breathing. The third, potassium chloride, stops the heart.

"Once the three drugs are injected, we wait for the pronouncement of death, and the blinds are closed," Kniest said. Death usually comes within four to six minutes.

The witnesses are then escorted out and the attending media are briefed by corrections officials. At the briefing, any last statement from the inmate is read.

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