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| Inmate Sues Over Execution Policies |
| By Indianapolis Star |
| Published: 02/24/2003 |
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A federal inmate wants witnesses, including members of the media, to be able to see his execution in its entirety. David Paul Hammer, who is on Death Row at the U.S. Penitentiary near Terre Haute for strangling another inmate, thinks that current execution procedures violate his constitutional rights. In an amendment to his federal lawsuit, which was originally filed in 2001, Hammer argued that the right to view his execution should not be limited to a few witnesses. And witnesses should be allowed to see the inmate before he is strapped to a gurney and catheters are inserted, Hammer states. During the federal executions of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Texas drug lord Juan Raul Garza, curtains preventing witnesses from viewing the death chamber were opened just before the lethal injection. Dan Dunne, Bureau of Prisons spokesman, would not comment on the lawsuit but said 'the procedures employed in preparing for the execution are comprehensive and clearly defined, and consistent with applicable state and federal laws.' Hammer, who also is appealing his death sentence, is challenging rules that limit an inmate's contact with friends, lawyers and the media in the days and hours leading up to his execution. He also called a surgical procedure to insert catheters into a vein 'cruel and unusual punishment.' The original complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, questioned the constitutionality of banning face-to-face contact between Death Row inmates and the media. A federal appeals court revived the lawsuit, which was initially dismissed, last year. |
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