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In reply to the discussion: Condemned man's last words as he died by lethal injection: "I feel my whole body burning" [View all]WillowTree
(5,350 posts).......I feel my whole body burning and something to the effect of "I have a metallic taste in my mouth". The second statement would seem to me to be kind of a lame argument for "cruel and unusual", particularly in consideration of the fact that Kenneth Hogan stabbed his 21 year-old victim more than 25 times in the back, neck and chest.
Not saying that I think the execution should inflict the same suffering as the crime (if we justify capital punishment at all, of course), but considering what he did to that young woman and the pain and terror she must have endured in her final moments, I'm having trouble working up bitter tears over a momentary metallic taste in the mouth. I think I'd leave that one out when arguing against lethal injection.