P R E S S   R E L E A S E
from
F L O R I D I A N S   FOR   A L T E R N A T I V E S
                                   TO THE DEATH PENALTY   (FADP)



May 19, 2007

FADP CONTACTS:
Mark Elliott: 727-215-9646



SWORN WITNESSES RECOUNT SCENES OF INMATE'S TORTURED DEATH.


Friday, May 18, in the Marion County courtroom of Judge Carven Angel, new
witnesses to Florida's botched execution of Angel Diaz testified that they saw
Diaz in obvious pain, contorting, grimacing, gasping for air and struggling to
speak for most of the over half hour duration of his execution.  Dale Recinella,
Catholic Lay Chaplain for Death Row, said he "had just watched a man being
tortured to death."

A young D.O.C. translator testified that he witnessed Diaz trying to speak and
grimacing 15 minutes into the execution and breathing until the very end.  He
stated he would not want to witness another execution.

John Crawford, News Coordinator for the Tallahassee Democrat, voluntarily
testified that Diaz was in obvious pain and gasping for air.

Subpoenas for media witnesses and key execution team members were quashed by the
court.

"This first time testimony from new execution witnesses exposes the limitations
of the Governor's Commission investigation," states Mark Elliott, Director of
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

The botched execution of Angel Nieves Diaz on December 13, 2006, led
then-governor Jeb Bush to issue an Executive Order halting executions and
establishing the Governor's Commission on the Administration of Lethal
Injection.  The GCALI was charged with investigating the execution of Angel Diaz
and recommending changes to methods of administrating lethal injection.  The
Commission's findings of whether Diaz was tortured were inconclusive, hampered
by the lack of subpoena power and the decision not to put witnesses under oath,
thereby making it difficult for key witnesses to testify and casting doubt on
the veracity of accounts.

The hearings on the post conviction case of Deco Lightbourne are the first on
Florida's lethal injection procedures since the botched Angel Diaz execution.
Lightboune's case was remanded by the Florida Supreme Court as a result of the
all writs petitions filed immediately after Diaz's execution.  Hearings continue
at 9am, Monday, May 21 and again on June 18 & 19 and are to conclude in July.

"This horribly botched execution is just another example of our fatally flawed
Death Penalty system.  With 26 exonerations off our Death Row, the risk of
executing an innocent person is higher in Florida than anywhere else in the
nation," says Elliott.  "We call upon Governor Crist not to rush to re-start
Florida's broken killing machine."



**********
SENT BY:

      Mark Elliott
      Spokesperson
      Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP)
      800-973-6548
      mark@fadp.org
      www.fadp.org
      PMB 335, 2603 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Hwy,
      Gainesville, FL 32609


Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty works for restorative
justice in the form of effective alternatives to the death penalty. It
does so by

* supporting and coordinating the work of organizations and individuals
* educating and energizing the general public and state legislators
* supporting the many persons affected by capital crime and punishment
* advocating specific legislative improvements