Why not just bring back the rope?

 Judicial executions evoke strong public emotions. You are either for capital punishment or against it - there is no middle ground!
 The recent execution in Ohio, of convicted murderer, Dennis McGuire, once again focused attention and public debate on the matter. According to witnesses, McGuire after receiving an experimental cocktail of two untried (for executions) drugs, took more than 26 minutes to die, apparently, the longest ever for any Ohio execution.
 McGuire was put to death at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville with an injection of midazolam, a sedative and hydromorphone, an analgesic.
Columbus Dispatch reporter, Alan Johnson, witnessed the event, his 19th. "This one was different," he said in a posting on the newspaper's website. "After three to four minutes, Dennis McGuire began gasping for breath, his stomach and chest were compressing deeply, he was making a snorting sound, almost a choking sound at times.
"And I didn't notice it at first, but his left hand -- which had been waving at his kids -- had clenched into a fist."
 For about 10 minutes, McGuire appeared to be straining against his restraints, Johnson recalled. "Obviously, he couldn't get up, but he appeared to be trying to get up or at least raise up in some fashion."
 McGuire family lawyer, Jon Paul Rion said they plan to file a lawsuit in federal court seeking an injunction against the state's use of the drug combination, alleging it represents cruel and unusual punishment and, as such, violates the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.
 The controversy has seen Ohio delay its next scheduled execution, to complete a review of a new two-drug combination. Gregory Lott, 52, was scheduled to die on March 19 by a lethal injection of the same drug-combination Ohio had used in the January execution.
 Ohio Governor John Kasich delayed Lott's execution date to November, to give the state prison department time to complete a review of that execution, spokesman Rob Nichols said.
 Ohio and other states with the death penalty are increasingly being forced to look for alternate drugs and sources of drugs for executions, as pharmaceutical companies raise objections to their products being used in capital punishment.

Why not simply bring back the rope?

 Which brings us to the question: why not simply bring back the rope? If done correctly, it is by many accounts, quick and supposedly painless - although I guess, no one successfully hanged has ever confirmed the lack of pain or otherwise.
 While writing my novel, "Hobson's Choice"  that deals with a man on death row, I got to peek behind a thick veil of secrecy. Unlike is the case in other countries, when executions took place in South Africa, no outside witnesses were allowed to be present and secrecy was legally enforced.
 Before the abolishing of capital punishment in South Africa, in the 1990s, hangings took place regularly. In 1967 a purpose-built, gallows was built at Pretoria Central Prison and and it became a well-oiled death-factory where over 2 000 convicted people died at the end of a rope by the end of the 1980s. In the 1980s alone, 1 123 prisoners were hanged there.
 Seven condemned prisoners could be hanged at the same time and executions normally took place on a Tuesday and/or Thursday.
 I was able to find the best possible source about the facility and the process - a former death row warder who was present at over 200 hangings. He joined the Correctional Services right after school and was only 19 when he escorted his first prisoner to the gallows and ensured the condemned man's feet were correctly positioned on the white, painted, footprints located on either side of the dual trapdoors.
 So when Thinus (let's call him that to protect his privacy), says he would choose to be executed by hanging, I figure he knows what he's talking about.
 Looking back through my notes, he had this to say.
 "It's over in seconds. The hangman, an old police sergeant called Oom Barries (Uncle Barries), who hanged around 1 500 people in his day, calculated everything precisely. Based on the condemed's weight and the thickness of his or her neck, he usually made the drop about one and a three quarter times their height. So a six-foot tall man would drop around 10 feet. They would drop, twitch for a few seconds and then nothing. They didn't shit in their pants. There heads didn't come off and the only blood I ever saw was where the rope tore the skin on the neck. I am convinced it was over instantly and completely painless."
 So why do Ohio and other states no longer use hanging as a method of execution?
 It seems they consider other methods more humane.
 A report on the Death Penalty Information Centre website reads:
 "The prisoner's weight should cause a rapid fracture-dislocation of the neck. However, instantaneous death rarely occurs. (Weisberg, 1991)
If the inmate has strong neck muscles, is very light, if the 'drop' is too short, or the noose has been wrongly positioned, the fracture-dislocation is not rapid and death results from slow asphyxiation. If this occurs the face becomes engorged, the tongue protrudes, the eyes pop, the body defecates, and violent movements of the limbs occur. (The Corrections Professional, 1996 and Weisberg, 1991)."
 Who is right? I don't know. I would put a great deal of faith in the accounts of a man who quite literally stood right beside the trapdoor abyss and watched 200 people drop to their deaths. But, at the same time, I accept he was not a doctor and maybe Oom Barries was just that good - he certainly had enough time and practice to hone his skills.
 I also read about the 43 botched executions listed on the DPIC website and noted, not one involved a hanging.

No sympathy

 But whatever the case, there appears to have been little sympathy for Dennis McGuire. Most comments about McGuire's execution, it would seem, are, he got what he deserved and so what if he suffered at the end?
 For example, Dudley Sharp commenting in the New York Daily News writes:
 "Dennis McGuire anally raped/tortured/murde­red Joy Stewart, a 22 year old newlywed who was 30 weeks pregnant. There is no indication that McGuire was conscious at any time after the first 30 seconds of the 24 minute execution process, as pharmacological realities dictate.
 "There is every indication that Joy Stewart was conscious throughout the eternal horror of her savage rape and murder. McGuire forced Joy from her car, choked her, attempted to rape her vaginally, raped her anally, slashed her throat so deeply it severed both her carotid artery and jugular vein, all the while Joy realizing the horror of her own death, as well as that of her unborn child.
 "McGuire had more time on death row than Joy had in life. McGuire's children have threatened to sue the state over their father's just execution. So foul. They have learned so very little. Their only comments should have been:
 "'We are truly sorry for the horror and suffering that our father has caused to Joy, her unborn child and to Joy's family and friends. Our thoughts and prayers will be with them, always.'
 "Do folks gasp, wheeze, moan, etc. while in their sleep? Of course, which is all that happened with McGuire. Possibly, someone in the media will look up the overdose properties of the drugs involved and tell us how McGuire could, possibly have been conscious. He couldn't have been. The properties of the drugs and their overdosing effects are very well known - by no means an experiment."
 It may appear I support the death penalty. I do not. But my position is not based on liberal, "all life is valuable" sentiments. The world is indeed a lot better off with people like Dennis McGuire permanently removed from it.
 My objection rests with the principle that the Government, State, judicial authorities - call them what you may - declares killing is illegal but that it's okay for them to do the same, albeit in some sort of ritualized form. I naively believe, laws should apply equally to all, including the government. If it is wrong to kill (excluding circumstances like self defence etc) then it is wrong to kill...period...and the State cannot be exempt.