No wonder they say: the ways of the Lord are inscrutable. How often do we expect one thing from life, and fate sends us something completely different. And who knows what God's providence is in that …
SHOWER
Once in Texas, a certain Roni Blackville committed a serious crime. Not only did he kill his master, from whom he rented a room, he also chopped off his head and ripped open his stomach. But even this was not enough for him. He lashed out at the homeowner's 14-year-old daughter, raped her and then strangled her. Blackville's guilt was fully proven, and the jury voted unanimously in favor of the death penalty.
Roni, using his right to invite five people to the execution, announced an auction on the Internet: who will give more for the invitation to watch the execution of the "innocent". The starting price was set at $ 100. The "invitation cards" eventually sold out at $ 1,500 each. The money was for Roni's single mother. He himself grew up without a father and before being imprisoned he worked as a plasterer in a construction company.
EXECUTE CANNOT PERMIT
While the court is still in action, the wife of the Governor of the state of Susan, with the support of public organizations, began to seek the replacement of the death penalty with life imprisonment. By law, it could only be allowed by the Governor himself - Rick Perry.
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- How do you not understand ?! - Susan persuaded her husband. - The poor boy is only 21 years old. Yes, he did a terrible thing, but we must be merciful.
The governor objected: they say, the execution of Roni will serve as a lesson for those young people who do not give a penny to human life. He is firmly convinced that the murderer must answer for the crime to the fullest extent of the law. But Susan, being the daughter of a priest, continued to plead with her husband for Christian compassion.
- If the execution costs 3 million 200 thousand, then the costs of maintaining a convict with a life sentence cost taxpayers two million more, objected Rick Perry.
- How can you view human life through the prism of despicable metal! Susan exclaimed. “Don't take a bad example from your predecessor, George W. Bush. Although he became the president, his path to the Olympus was covered with corpses!
Indeed, statistics show that when George W. Bush was governor of Texas, for several years the state accounted for a third of the executions in the country. And in 2000, the future president broke all records - out of 85 executions in the United States, 41 were in Texas. This is the largest number of executions committed since the turn of the century in one state in just a year.
Having not pardoned a single convict during his reign, George W. Bush honored 17 executions with his personal presence. At the same time, he was not in the least embarrassed by the fact that the National Center for Research, using DNA tests, analyzed all the trials in the country and came to the conclusion that in 4.5% of cases, the American justice condemns to death innocent people.
However, despite these published figures, the average US citizen continues to believe that the death penalty is a just punishment. In addition, most ordinary Americans are unwilling to pay life-sentenced taxes. This is what Rick Perry primarily referred to in his dispute with his wife.
FAILURE AFTER FAILURE
The day of the execution came. As a sin, it coincided with the birthday of the governor's wife. That morning, she got up at six o'clock and immediately blurted out a whole tirade to her husband, from which it followed that she was leaving for Florida to visit her parents to celebrate her anniversary there, because she did not want to stay where people were executed. As for gifts, she does not need anything but one thing: to have mercy on the lost boy. By the way, two hours were left before Roni's execution in Fortstar prison.
Perry could not resist such blackmail. Yes, if a woman really wants something, she will always achieve it! Calling his assistant Gottfried, he ordered to inform the head of the prison that Roni was pardoned. As for the documents, the Governor ordered to immediately prepare them for signature. Susan even cried with joy.
But fortune was not on Roni Blackweal's side that morning. After some time, the assistant to the governor returned with the unpleasant news: after yesterday's tornado, telephone communication does not work in the entire district, and it will be restored at best by 9 am the next day. In addition, the power line has been cut and an email cannot be sent to the prison.
As for mobile communications, for some reason the head of the prison does not answer the cell phone. As it turned out later, he was discharged. Grimly listening to these messages, the governor ordered Gottfried to take the car and go to prison.
At about 6 hours 40 minutes another assistant to the governor entered the room with a report: because of the heavy fog, Gottfried crashed into a tree and crashed. In an unconscious state, he was taken home and already called a doctor by cell phone. Then the second assistant to the governor went to prison. Basically, he had to make it - even in the fog, 30 miles on the freeway in a sports car - a mere trifle.
However, on the way, the assistant had an upset stomach, and he lost a few precious minutes because of this. Moreover, in the confusion, no one looked at how much gasoline was in the tank, and, as luck would have it, there was not enough fuel. So ten minutes before the execution, the car stopped helplessly on a deserted road.
The situation was critical. At this time, a priest was already talking to the convict in the Fortstar prison. Then the assistant governor rushed to the prison at a run. Three minutes before the execution, he was already at the entrance.
- I have urgent business! I'm with a letter from the governor,”he shouted to the guard, but he seemed to be fiddling with the lock for an eternity. Meanwhile, the condemned was already tied with rubber bands to the bed.
However, literally a minute before the execution, the assistant managed to get into the office of the head of the prison. The latter listened to him and held out his hand for a letter of pardon.
Alas, it was not there - it remained with the wounded Gottfried. Then the chief jailer reasoned: since the newcomer does not have a letter, therefore, he has no right to postpone the execution, otherwise he himself becomes a criminal, violating the decision of the state court. In addition, he was well aware that the new governor was of the same opinion about the death penalty as his predecessor, George W. Bush.
FINITA LA COMEDY
A minute later, exactly at eight, as required by the protocol, the doctor injected into Roni's vein - a combination of three substances: sodium thiopental, pavulone and potassium chloride. The first causes loss of consciousness, the second stops the lungs, the third leads to cardiac arrest. At the same time, outwardly, the execution procedure resembles the introduction of a general-purpose anesthetic in a hospital.
As practice shows, such a seemingly sparing method of execution is nevertheless far from so perfect. If the inmate resists during the injection, the poison can enter the artery or muscle tissue and cause severe pain. In addition, if the proportions of the components of the injection are made incorrectly, then they will begin to interact with each other earlier than expected.
This is fraught with premature thickening of the mixture, as a result of which the veins are quickly clogged, and then death occurs slowly. If the pavulon does not have an immediate anesthetic effect, the person may feel suffocating due to the onset of pulmonary paralysis.
When a certain criminal named Raymond Landry was executed before Ronnie, then, according to eyewitnesses, the execution did not go as flawlessly as we would like. Firstly, the tube through which the poison entered the needle broke. Secondly, Landry's death came only 17 minutes after the injection of the mixture. Therefore, before his death, Raymond suffered greatly.
Two minutes after the doctor injected poison into Roni's vein, another car from the governor jumped to the prison. The head of state's advisor delivered the forgotten letter. Alas, it was too late. Despite all his efforts, Governor Rick Perry never managed to prolong the life of the criminal. It seems as if some higher power was initially opposed to Roni Blackville escaping inevitable punishment. Most likely, this was a kind of God's providence, beyond the control of mere mortals …
Ksenia VOLKOVA