Protest in execution ‘disaster’

Defenders of a condemned inmate in Alabama are calling his execution an “avoidable disaster,” but the state prison commissioner says there was no visible evidence that he suffered during a lethal injection.

Death-row inmate Ronald Bert Smith Jr. coughed, and his upper body heaved repeatedly, for the first 13 minutes of the procedure Thursday at a prison in Atmore as he was being sedated, and his arms appeared to move slightly after two tests were administered to determine consciousness.

Smith’s attorneys, who watched the execution, said in a Friday statement said the movements show that he “was not anesthetized at any point during the agonizingly long procedure.”

But state Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn disputes the assessment that Smith was in pain, saying Alabama properly followed a lethal injection protocol that has been upheld by the courts.

“Early in the execution, Smith, with eyes closed, did cough, but at no time during the execution was there observational evidence that he suffered,” Dunn’s statement said. Dunn said a required autopsy will determine if there were any irregularities.