LITTLE ROCK, AR - Condemned killer Don Davis is asking Gov. Mike Huckabee to make executions more public in the hope that this might deter others from committing violent crimes.

The 53-year-old Davis, convicted of the 1990 slaying of a Rogers woman, said in an e-mail through a friend and anti-death penalty advocate that he has concerns about Arkansas' "hidden, almost secret, way executions are carried out" and he believes "it would be sensible" to make them more public.

Davis, whose scheduled execution Wednesday is pending an appeal, asked that witnesses be allowed to see the condemned prisoner walk to the execution chamber, and prison staff strapping the inmate to the gurney and inserting needles and tubes into the prisoner for lethal injection.

Davis also suggested that news reporters witnessing the execution be allowed to use tape recorders and cameras, but said he does not want executions to take on "a circus-like atmosphere."

Davis' friend, Betsey Wright of Rogers, who wrote and sent the e-mail Saturday, said Sunday that Davis would not want executions to be broadcast live and would not want greater public access to turn a prisoner's death into a spectacle. In the e-mail, Davis also invited the governor for a visit to discuss these ideas.
A spokeswoman for Huckabee did not immediately return a call for comment.

Dina Tyler, a spokeswoman for the state Correction Department, said prison officials follow law and policies that are designed to afford some dignity to the inmate and to make a stressful event easier for everyone involved.

Currently, witnesses and three news media representatives are escorted into a small viewing room and seated in front of a glass partition covered by black curtains. The curtains are drawn, and the witnesses see the prisoner strapped down on the gurney with needles in place. They hear his last words and watch as the chemicals are administered. He is pronounced dead, and the curtains are drawn.

"We don't have the curtains open for the dignity of the inmate. What if you have an inmate who is very nervous and very shaky," Tyler said. "It's for the dignity of the inmate. The inmate is in place and everything is taken care of.

"As far as cameras and tape recorders inside the execution chambers, absolutely not. If you allow cameras in there, it would not be long before someone would tape the entire process for some twisted reason to air on TV. We're not going to provide a circus sideshow. It's that simple," Tyler said.

Davis also said in the e-mail that he hopes "Arkansas will develop a method of execution that allows the inmate to donate his or her organs to people who need them, instead of the current process that poisons all organs."

Wright said Davis was remorseful for the death of Rogers resident Jane Daniels and was preparing his final words to her family and friends. Davis has not asked Huckabee for clemency but has joined another death row inmate's lawsuit in federal court, saying that lethal injection may put a condemned person at risk for cruel and unusual punishment.

U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright has issued a stay of Davis' execution and the state has appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.