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UNITED STATES. EXECUTION OF FLORIDA INMATE TAKES 34 MINUTES
December 13, 2006: death penalty opponents criticized the execution of Angel Nieves Diaz who took more than half an hour to die and needed a rare second dose of lethal chemicals.
Diaz, 55, convicted of murdering a Miami topless bar manager 27 years ago, appeared to grimace before dying 34 minutes after receiving a double lethal chemical dose on December 13. Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said she doesn't believe Diaz felt any pain. She said Diaz started snoring and became unconscious after the first three drugs were administered and never regained consciousness. Plessinger said Diaz had liver disease, which required the second dose of lethal chemicals. But Diaz's cousin Maria Otero said the family had no knowledge that he suffered from liver disease and said the execution was political. ``Who came down to Earth and gave you the right to kill somebody?'' Otero said, referring to Gov. Jeb Bush. ``Why a stupid second dose?".
Bush said in a statement that the Department of Corrections followed all protocols: ``A preexisting medical condition of the inmate was the reason tonight's procedure took longer than recent procedures carried out this year,'' the statement said. Diaz was pronounced dead at 6:36 p.m., despite his protests of innocence and requests for clemency made by the governor of his native Puerto Rico. In most Florida executions, the prisoner loses consciousness almost immediately and stops moving within three-to-five minutes. Two doctors watching a heart monitor then wait for it to show a flat line. They then inspect the body and pronounce death. The whole process happens within 15 minutes.
Puerto Rican officials, including Gov. Acevedo Vila and Senate President Kenneth D. McClintock, wrote Bush asking him to stop Diaz's execution, but he declined. Puerto Rico, a US territory, abolished capital punishment in 1929. Moments before his execution, Diaz again denied killing Joseph Nagy during a robbery at the Velvet Swing Lounge. There were no eyewitnesses to Nagy's Dec. 29, 1979, murder. Most of the club's employees and patrons were locked in a restroom, but Diaz's girlfriend later told police he was involved. (Sources: Associated Press Writer, 14/12/2006)
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