NPR’s All Things Considered reports on executions gone wrong, including the case of Joe James Jr in Alabama where execution workers took more than three hours to set an IV line into his body. The state said nothing out of the ordinary happened during that time but Reprieve obtained permission from his family to conduct an autopsy afterwards which revealed multiple puncture wounds, bruises, and evidence that the state may have cut into his skin to find a vein.
Blaire Andrews, who leads death penalty projects for Reprieve said “All of that was hidden from view from the journalists that were supposed to witness the execution. If the state is doing everything correctly, they shouldn’t have anything to hide. So it does raise the question, what is the state trying to cover up?”
