NATIONAL COALITION TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY
PRESS RELEASE


CONTACT:
David Elliot, NCADP Communications Director
202-331-4090, ext. 16
cell phone: 202-607-7036
delliot@ncadp.org
Mark Elliott, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
727-215-9646
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NCADP CALLS FOR OPEN, HONEST AND OBJECTIVE
INVESTIGATION INTO BOTCHED EXECUTION OF ANGEL NIEVES DIAZ


Dec. 15, 2006 – The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
and its state affiliate, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death
Penalty, Friday called for a more thorough investigation into Florida’s
execution protocol in the wake of this week’s botched execution of
Angel Nieves Diaz.

Responding to criticism, Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday announced that
a panel of state officials, including the Department of Corrections’
assistant general counsel, will investigate the way the prison handled the
execution. That’s not good enough, said FADP spokesman Mark Elliott.

“The state doesn’t have the moral authority to investigate itself,”
Elliott said. “Floridians demand a panel that is accountable and
transparent and comprised of not only state officials but advocacy
and victims' rights groups and independent medical
professionals as well.”

On Wednesday, it took authorities 34 minutes and two lethal
injections to execute Diaz. After the execution, state officials
gave conflicting accounts of what actually occurred. According to
reporters who witnessed the execution, Diaz appeared to be in pain
throughout most of the process, grimacing, wincing, and for more
than 10 minutes struggling to breathe.

Diann Rust-Tierney, NCADP executive director, noted that Wednesday’s
botched execution in Florida follows botched executions earlier this
year in California and Ohio. She said controversy over lethal
injection protocols has led to the delay of individual executions
in six states this year –  Arkansas, California, Delaware, Missouri,
Ohio and South Dakota.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the lack of accountability
and incompetence that characterizes other aspects of the death penalty
system continues right up to the execution,” Rust-Tierney said.


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About the NCADP


Since its inception in 1976, NCADP provides information,
advocates for public policy, and mobilizes and supports
individuals and institutions that share our unconditional
rejection of capital punishment.

The NCADP’s commitment to abolishing the death penalty is
rooted in several critical concerns. First and foremost,
the death penalty devalues all human life - eliminating
the possibility for transformation of spirit that is
intrinsic to humanity.

Secondly, the death penalty is fallible and irrevocable –
more than 100 people have been released from death row on
grounds of innocence in this "modern era" of capital punishment.

Thirdly, the death penalty continues to be tainted with race
and class bias. It is overwhelmingly a punishment reserved
for the poor (95% of the more than 3,300 people under death
sentence could not afford a private attorney) and for racial
minorities (55% are people of color).

Finally, the death penalty is a violation of our most
fundamental human rights - the United States is the only
western democracy that still uses the death penalty as a
form of punishment.
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