All executions in Florida will be halted until a special commission can review lethal injection procedures, under an executive order Gov. Jeb Bush signed following the unusually long death of Miami killer Angel Diaz.
Bush's order, asking the commission to report its results by March 1, came the day that a doctor who performed an Diaz's autopsy said that the lethal-injection needles punctured straight through both of his veins, dissipating the poisons that took 34 minutes to kill him.
''The main problem with the conduct of this execution procedure was that the fluids to be injected were not going into a vein, but were going into small tissues in the arm,'' said Alachua County Medical Examiner William F. Hamilton.
Diaz, grimmacing, took 34 minutes to die.
Bush called it ''a matter of humanity, constitutional imperative and common sense'' to ensure that Florida is carrying out the death penalty in a way that does not violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Diaz's execution has come under fire because doctors had to administer two doses of lethal drugs.
The 11-member commission, including five appointed by the governor, will have until March to complete its report. Bush said ``these appointees will represent a cross-section of the scientific, medical, law enforcement and legal communities.''
''I look forward to the commission's expeditious review of the lethal injection protocols in Florida to ensure the method is consistent with the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution and its prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment,'' Bush said in a statement.
