Arizona offers gas chamber to death row inmate

On Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court set June 8 for the execution of Frank Atwood, who was convicted in 1987 of the murder of an eight -year -old girl, and gave him 15 days to choose between lethal injection or death. inhalation of deadly gases.

According to his lawyer, prison authorities are considering the use of hydrogen cyanide, the main component of Zyklon-B, which is sadly associated with the Holocaust. However, Frank Atwood’s mother was Jewish and fled Austria in 1939 to escape the Nazis, Me Joe Perkovich said.

In the United States, only seven states authorize the use of lethal gas to kill inmates sentenced to death, but in practice no one has used it since 1999. Most killings occur by injection. of chemicals.

Doubts about the legality of this protocol – which is suspected of causing illegal suffering to convicts – and the refusal of pharmaceutical companies to provide these products, however, have led to a significant reduction in the death penalty in the country. .

Arizona has not carried out any executions since 2014, when an inmate was suffering for two hours, terrified after being stabbed with deadly substances.

The state decided to resume training this year.

Before Frank Atwood, they planned to kill Clarence Dixon on May 11, who was convicted of murdering a student. He also has two weeks to request a gas chamber, to avoid lethal injection. His silence was worth accepting the second option.

In February, the local Jewish community filed a complaint, in vain, to prevent authorities from using hydrogen cyanide. It is frightening that Arizona chose Zyklon-B, the chemical used by the Nazis in Auschwitz to kill more than a million people.said Tim Eckstein, who chairs the Greater Phoenix Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC).

In April, South Carolina also caused a stir by giving a convict a choice between a firing squad and an electric chair. His execution was heavily suspended by the State Supreme Court.