Alabama Likely To Botch The Execution Of An Already Dying Man

UPDATE 6 p.m. local time: The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a temporary stay of execution in the case of Doyle Lee Hamm, according to Alabama media.

When Doyle Lee Hamm was sentenced to death, Alabama was still using a yellow-painted electric chair, morbidly nicknamed “Yellow Mama,” to execute its inmates. It was 1987, Ronald Reagan was president, and Hamm had just been convicted of the murder of a motel clerk, who’d been shot in the head during a robbery.

More than 30 years later, Yellow Mama has been retired, and Alabama kills its inmates in other ways. Tomorrow, at 6 p.m., Hamm will be strapped to a gurney. He will be asked if he has any last words. Then, the medical team at Holman Prison will try to locate a vein in which to inject the lethal drugs ― in Hamm’s legs and feet.

Yes, this is unusual; death row inmates typically receive lethal injection in veins in the arms or hands. However, this isn’t the only thing that makes Doyle Lee Hamm’s case unique. Hamm is set to be executed tomorrow despite the fact he is already dying of cranial and lymphatic cancer.

In 2014, a large cell lymphoma was found behind Hamm’s left eye, and an MRI test confirmed a tumor. Further examination and CT scans showed abnormal lymph nodes in his chest, lungs and abdomen. He received radiation to treat the cancer behind his eye in 2014; but because the abnormal lymph nodes in Hamm’s chest and lungs likely weren’t serious enough to kill him before he could be executed, medical staff left them untreated; and his condition deteriorated. Surgery to remove a cancerous lesion “eating through Hamm’s cheek and bone” was scheduled for last December, but on the day of the procedure, news broke that the Alabama Supreme Court had finally set his execution date. The warden canceled Hamm’s surgery and instead read him his death warrant.

Source: huffingtonpost