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A MAN HAS been put to death with an anesthetic never used before in a US lethal injection, carrying out its first execution in more than 18 months on an inmate convicted of two racially motivated murders.
Authorities said 53-year-old Mark Asay, the first white man executed in Florida for the killing of a black man, was pronounced dead at 6.22 pm yesterday at the state prison in Starke.
Asay received a three-drug injection that began with the anesthetic, etomidate.
Though approved by the Florida Supreme Court, etomidate has been criticised by some as being unproven in an execution.
Etomidate replaced midazolam, which became harder to acquire after many drug companies began refusing to provide it for executions.
Prosecutors say Asay made racist comments in the 1987 fatal shooting of a 34-year-old black man, Robert Lee Booker. Asay also was convicted of the 1987 murder of 26-year-old Robert McDowell, who was mixed race, white and Hispanic. Asay had hired McDowell, who was dressed as a woman, as a prostitute, and killed him after learning his true gender, prosecutors said.
Asay was asked whether he wanted to make a final statement. “No sir, I do not. Thank you,” he replied.
The execution protocol began at 6.10pm. About a minute after the first drug was administered, Asay’s feet jerked slightly and his mouth opened. A minute or two later he was motionless and subsequently was pronounced dead by a doctor.
Michelle Glady, a spokeswoman for the corrections department, said there was no complication in the procedure and that Asay did not speak during it.
The execution was Florida’s first since the US Supreme Court halted the practice in the state after finding its method for sentencing people to death to be unconstitutional. The high court earlier had rejected Asay’s final appeal without comment.
Asay was the first white man to be executed in Florida for killing a black man. At least 20 black men have been executed for killing white victims since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1976, according to data from the Death Penalty Information Center.
A total of 92 Florida inmates had been executed previously in that time period.
The inmate’s spiritual adviser, Norman Smith of Cavalry Chapel in Melbourne, Florida, spent two hours with Asay before his execution.
He said he admitted spouting racial epithets prior to Booker’s murder, but said he was drunk and angry, not a racist.
“Until I heard that I would’ve never known that this man was tagged as a racist,” said Smith, who is black. Asay, he added, was ready and not conflicted as the execution hour approached.
Etomidate is the first of three drugs administered in Florida’s new execution mixture. It’s followed by rocuronium bromide, a paralytic, and finally, potassium acetate, which stops the heart. It is Florida’s first time using potassium acetate too, which was used in a 2015 execution in Oklahoma by mistake, but has not been used elsewhere, a death penalty expert said.
State corrections officials have defended the choice of etomidate, saying it has been reviewed. The corrections department refused to answer questions from The Associated Press about how it chose etomidate.
Doctors hired by Asay’s attorneys raised questions about etomidate in court declarations, saying there are cases where it had caused pain along with involuntary writhing in patients.
But in its opinion allowing the drug to be used, the state’s high court said earlier this month that four expert witnesses demonstrated that Asay “is at small risk of mild to moderate pain”.
Executions in Florida were put on hold for 18 months after the Supreme Court ruled that the old system was unconstitutional because it gave judges, not juries, the power to decide.
Since then, Florida’s legislature passed a law requiring a unanimous jury for death penalty recommendations.
In Asay’s case, jurors recommended death for both murder counts by a 9-3 vote. Even though the new law requires unanimity, Florida’s high court ruled that the US Supreme Court’s ruling did not apply to older cases.
Asay was the 24th inmate executed since Governor Rick Scott has taken office, the most under any governor in Florida history.
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No central bank in the world has the interest of citizens as their focus. Tackle greed and profit margins of major companies . A large amount of inflation would be gone with that. People can’t take these soaring costs much longer
@Furious George – The Wasp: If you have to do the same process 9 times and it’s no working, it’s time you quit your job!
@John Lewis: This is why we Bitcoin
@Furious George – The Wasp: And how do we tackle the greed? Any suggestions?
@Furious George – The Wasp: tis a great idea push people to the point where they can’t pay they’re mortgage go into arrears,lose the house, recession bang house value drops investors come along buy the house wait till economy recovers then sell again,then boom again cycle restarts,it’s in they’re interest to have recession at certain times they will buy up what they want when the price drops,they’re no fools it’s well thought out and there’s a reason why bets are put on that economy will crash they want it to when it suits THEM,my house was 220,000 in 2006,dropped value to 110,000 in 2011 they were bought by investors then held out and they made 100% profit, here we go again slowly, carefully,gradually.
we’re funding the war in ukraine, its all a gimmick. My mortgage gone up over 500euro per month now, people cant stick it
@pio Martin: All the extra taxes coming down the road as well. Gonna cost you more to run your car. RTE has to be bailed out. More carbon taxes on the way. Don’t get sick, no health service available.
@pio Martin: complain to the Russian embassy so, as Putins illegal invasion has caused spike in inflation.
@pio Martin: tell the russonazis to gtfo of Ukraine then.
@Roj Blake: partly caused the spike in inflation. Far more issues at play than Putin and Russia.
Are we going to get the story about Nat-West bank CEO stepping down after leaked documents show Nigel was spot on and the bank conspired to shut his accounts down because of his political views??
@I9AQcjXs: yesterday’s news
@I9AQcjXs: We got the news. God love him.
Wonder what % of inflation carbon taxes are responsible for?
@Leslie Dwyer: The obsession with carbon tax on this forum :-D. On average €8 per month if you solely heat your house on gas. Few cents on a litre of petrol. Trust me, it’s not the carbon tax that you’re massively getting screwed by. Perhaps refocus?
@Name not provided: how much is the carbon tax on kerosene and smokeless fuel?
@Name not provided: Fine but what’s the output from collecting all that tax? There doesn’t seem to be any. There isn’t a plan in place. Just collect the taxes and then nothing.
@David Corrigan: maybe check out the ESRI website, or Citizens Advice, or maybe even the Dept of Finance website.to help you with your research. I’m not commenting on the effectiveness or otherwise, just highlighting that a quick google search can help you to understand, rather than constantly stating that there is no plan.
@SYaxJ2Ts: Thanks Kev! Look what I found!!!
130 buses @ €500,000 a piece left in storage due to not having charging points. €65M worth of gear lying in storage due to the fact there is no plan.
Shall I continue!?
@SYaxJ2Ts: They are additional taxes that have a much greater impact on the less well off and, as with most tax in this country, people get very little back in the way of services. As a nation we are badly governed and poorly run. The government keep taking more and more while providing less and less. It’s unsustainable.
@David Corrigan: No please don’t continue, I’d die of boredom. My post was merely a response to you stating that there is no plan. I clearly said that I wasn’t commenting on its effectiveness or otherwise. Your response is to post a link to a government/NTA f up, of which there are many. I’m guessing that English paper 1 back in the day wasn’t your strong point.
@Name not provided: a few cents on a litre of petrol diesel stacks up if its your only commute option
@Name not provided: hi would you ask the government considering like me most have been paying carbon tax since 2010. Ask the government why no homes have free solar panels and a storage battery.
Guess it’s being used on wasted funding for other things by the government.
Why are we only seeing nothing for our money?
@SYaxJ2Ts: No. no. I understood you clearly. You seem to have a problem accepting the truth though.
It’s shocking this isn’t working, it’s almost like people need a roof over their heads AND to buy food. We are so gready, why can’t we just pick one?
@GoodBrother: we should be stocking up and building with Weetabix. You ever leave some of that in the bowl for longer than 20 minutes, when it dries you need a sledgehammer to get it off.
@Derek Power: I bet everyone laughed at you when you forged them steel bowls. ‘They’re not laughing now’
Tracker mortgage holders are being crucified after a decade of bliss
@Stephen Walshe: Looks like there will be a spike in mortgage arrears again. Vulture funds are at the ready waiting for people to hand back their keys.
@Dave Barrett: no handing back anything in this country thats a myth. They chase you for every penny owed.
@Stephen Walshe: For too many years, Tracker Mortgage Holders, have been subsidised by variable rate mortgage holders. Those on Variable rates were penalised with higher interest rates by the banks.
@Patrick Presley: it was their luck back then to be given a tracker. Thats what financial institutions were urging people to go on.
@Stephen Walshe: it will get everyone on the end
@Niall English: Too right, I recall one occasion in Susie Street restaurant, a celebrity couple in the corner ordering lots of drinks and whatever they wanted from the menu. A week later I read that they had millions written off their debt and were allowed continue to live in their multi-million house.
@Patrick Presley: And he still plays the piano. Wonder if he was looked after by RTE.
@Dave Barrett: Well he played the system better than he played the piano. RTE takes care of its own,if you’re connected.
@Patrick Presley: I saw a gentleman who owes 1 Billion euro here in Ireland living the dream in a restaurant in NYC. $900 bottles of wine were being ordered like there’s no tomorrow.
As Enda Kenny said one time, “Tis a great little country to do business”.
Never fear , FFG GREENS will tax us outta this .
Sewing the seeds of another recession. Vulture funds must be licking their lips waiting for whats coming down the line.
Casino capitalism at its most brutal with homeowners bearing the brunt of the failed economic polices of the EU/Central bank.Lagarde is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the large banks/corporate sector and couldn’t care less about the misery caused.I see our own Governor of the Central Bank sitting on his hands like the rest of the lapdogs before him.
A global authoritarian corporate banking oligarchy has no interest In the Irish people I just hope people will wake up soon to this slave society they have created!
People complaining about their mortgages today didn’t act on time. Head-in-the-sand strategy. Interest increases are all over the wall for years now.
@smatrix mantra: yes, interest increasing were gonna happen, but non-stop increases month on month is what nobody expects.
@smatrix mantra: You make the assumption that everyone is in a position to go to their banks and change their mortgage. Self employed can find it very challenging at best or not possible at all.
@neuromancer: Bit confused – rising interest rates always will mean mortgage ratea nd other rates for lending will rise behind it. Nobody expects it? Everyone expects it and it has to happen. Same as when ECB lowers…then the rates start to drop
No increase for Irish deposit holders? Why?
Corporatocracy is what we have now in most European countries, sadly. People who think they still live in any kind of democracy are naïve in the extreme. Giving us an occasional vote is akin to giving a child a toy steering wheel when he’s sitting in the back seat of a car and letting him pretend he’s driving.
@pio Martin: It has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine whatsoever.
Your mortgage has increased as you didn’t move to fix it last year when it was evident that interest rates would increase.
If you spent some time informing yourself as to the basics of personal finances instead of conspiracy nonsense, you’d be far better off.
@Wombleman: lots of reasons people may not be able to fix ya thick.
@Wombleman: please inform all the misinformed on these matters! Why are interest rates soring?
Do you think the war in Ukraine or covid policy hasn’t impacted the financial system at all??
Do you believe these tyrannical fascist globalist elite do a good job running this monetary slave system?
Ah the EU plan to end private home ownership in Europe March’s successfully onwards…. I’ll have a cuppa now and wait for the tin foil hat accusations to come my way even though all housing policy for the last 25 years has lead us closer and closer to this…
@Aidan Mcguire: interest rates are still way lower now than in 80s and 90s, also UK, USA, Australia etc have also increased rates, its not just the EU.
@Aidan Mcguire: utter nonsense.
@Aidan Mcguire: Spot on….so many will be scratching their heads wondering What happened ! but of course it will be too late to cry about it then.
@Roj Blake: not quite the same and I am sure you know that. The UK and US can act in their individual interests, but trying act in the interests of 27 countries, all with different requirements is a different ball game altogether. Also the small matter of EU QE and the impact these rate rises will have on that.
@Roj Blake: but food energy etc etc are considerably higher now
Over 200 a month mines gone up and not an extra bean coming in to cover it on top of all the other rising costs despite the crap I hear about people’s wages rising, not everyones did or will we can rest assured of that.
Governments created inflation during the plandemic at the bidding of their banking/pharma masters. Now you and I are paying for it through the nose.
@ForYourSafety: please f off over to beritbart or info wars.
@Ian: Never visited either of those sites/channels might give them a look, thanks for the heads up.
Remember…. “Greed is Good!
Keeping you’re Citizens in Debt IS What governments want and they Sure do Get it!!!
Nobody will have a pot to piss in if this keeps up!
This is starting to feel like wanton cruelty, getting painful now.
It’s about time deposit rates were raised to at least 4 per cent to give some return on savings. OAPs with a little nest egg who are in private rented accomodation are forgotten about
@Leslie Dwyer: 0.2%
Personally I think they will continue to rise into 2024 and start to come down again in 2025
Evil people..
time for the banks to increase savings account. rates, tsb is still only 1%… no, i won’t switch to aib to get 1% more
@Johnathan: did they cover the story here??
All central banks are controlled by the Rothschild’s and Rockefellers. This is intentionally being done to remove private property ownership inline with un agendas. This is not about curbing inflation. Its similar to the governments constitutional amendments in their proposed housing referendum that removes the rights to private property and stipulates all residents, not citizens are entitled to housing. Our government is focused on transferring our country to a communist un global government.
Keep sending that money to Ukraine.
Great idea for this country anyway,keep hiking interest rates and we’ll head into arrears then like plenty of people it can easily happen lose the house or apartment,if they’re getting it hard to pay it now haven’t a hope in arrears that’s for certain,then long behold more homeless but sure kick the can down the road that’ll solve it no forward thinking just keep hitting a bent nail with a hammer might get it 100% straight again somehow,not everyone has massive loans such as mortgages so raising the interest rate only effects a certain amount of people not all,no wonder it’s not having the effect they want,idiots
have your say