Report on Nebraska's electric chair and its use and procedures

[AmericanPride1234]

you know if you ever need the chair tested let me know. I got a mayor in my town that got caught kissing his underage boyfriend in the city hall restrooms and the state dis nothing. If your not using the chair this weekend could i barrow it?

[7ABIBIintaalbi]

why dont they show the water... that doesnt make any sense

[MrNWA4Life]

This comes from an episode of CBS News 48 Hours, the episode's titled Death By Midnight, The Final Countdown. Aired in December 1994. I got a copy from CBS News on tape, cost a small fortune, but nice to be able to watch. First use in many years? That's an understatement. It's mentioned here that there hadn't been an execution since 1959, 35 long years! The last execution was Charles Starkweather, executed on my birthday, June 25, 1959!

[wardenphil]

Why do they use low voltage for portions of the execution?

[survida100]

@wardenphil good question they use the high voltage causes the inmate to go unconisous and the low voltage to destroy the interior of the body and if the inmate is not pronounced dead they use another surge of electricty i live in florida and the method of execution here is Electrocution for the sentenced before 1999 and lethal injection for all death sentences

[zazozung]

@wardenphil So the person in the chair doesn't burst into flames.

[lnn6785]

Oh, really

[makeupgals18]

okay i don't wanna watch it until the end cause im scared of these stuff, but does it show the guy dead? or him getting electricuted!?!?!?

[CondemnedGirl]

@makeupgals18 Don't worry, that was just a rehearsal - the "inmate" was actually a correctional officer.

[makeupgals18]

@CondemnedGirl Oh, ok. (:

[eIectroexecutee]

@CondemnedGirl Yeah, but it would have been funny if the Nebraska execution team had got so into the rehearsal that they forgot it was a rehearsal and executed him anyway. And botched it.

[CondemnedGirl]

It looks like there's just one door into the death chamber, which means that the condemned will pass by the control panel on his way in, and hear the hum of the electricity which will soon be surging through his body.

[eIectroexecutee]

@CondemnedGirl It's a pretty shoddy chair, the Nebraska one, spoiled even more by the 'bolt-on' appearance of the cross-member that has the foot-stocks built in. It's as though they used to strap the executee's feet to the legs, but decided it was cumbersome (which I believe has been the case with another chair - maybe Georgia's first one).

If the executee did have to walk past the controls, I wonder if one ever succumbed to the natural urge to try and fiddle with them on the way past?

[XenoHosting]

@CondemnedGirl They don't hear a hum until the current is being passed through their body... When they walk in the chair is off, there is no hum, this is to prevent accidental electrical shock of staff. The hum is the sound of the oscillating alternating current. As for the above comment, voltage has nothing to do with anything, Telsa used to pass tens of thousands of volts through his body to demonstrate the basic principals of electricity. Voltage dose not kill Amperage does.

[CondemnedGirl]

At 00:23, against the wall in the background, you can see the sponges for the head and leg electrodes, and right next to them, the electrodes themselves in the open box.

[eIectroexecutee]

@CondemnedGirl Yes, and when the old-fashioned executioners could change the voltage, they would "give him a bit more juice" if "he" was a well-built executee. That said, the executioners of the day would have faced a first if presented with an Allen Lee Davis-sized executee. But then they'd probably have the potential executees rebuild the chair, or even the oversized executee himself.

[CondemnedGirl]

I wonder where they got that oddball cycle: 8 seconds of high voltage and 22 seconds of low voltage. I mean, why not 10 and 20, or 15 and15? Would it really make any difference?

I remember a report on the Florida chair from long ago, before they had the automatic timer. It was simple - just high voltage, on or off. The electrician said the executioner turned off the power "When it's been on long enough, when the skin's burnin'".

[eIectroexecutee]

@CondemnedGirl The Nebraska voltage cycle has been changed from 8 seconds of 2,450V followed by a 1-second pause (why?) and then 22 seconds of 480V, another 20-second pause (why again?) and repeat as necessary, TO a single application of 2,450V for 15 seconds, a 15 MINUTE wait before checking for signs of life, before repeating as necessary.

The new protocol (which we won't see) is hopefully so that the "signs of life" aren't there, but there is a big "WHY?" after ALL those figures.

[survida100]

@CondemnedGirl where can i find this video? or others like this??

[survida100]

@CondemnedGirl Where can i find this video im learning about florida's electric chair

[CondemnedGirl]

@survida100 If you're looking for a video about the Florida chair, search for "execution on the electric chair explained". It's probably the best one at that particular chair.

[survida100]

@CondemnedGirl that one is good but they dont turn on the current i met someone that worked of florida's death row and he said you dont hear a pop like on this one and he witnessed jesse tafero's execution in 1990 and leo jones in 1998. the officers bothched his execution because the victem was a state trooper

[CondemnedGirl]

Flimsy-looking plastic "flex-cuffs" for the condemned inmate's last walk = TACKY! Put him in some proper restraints - I can't believe that prison doesn't have a set of leg irons.

[eIectroexecutee]

@CondemnedGirl In the detailed description of Daryl Holton's preparation for Tennessee's chair by his lawyer (available on the internet by simple search) they also use tie-wrap things for restraining the executee's arms and legs, and a guard is given the specific job of snipping them off.

At least this looks like a one-station executioner job - none of that 2- or 3-station job so nobody knows who pulled the lever.

[CondemnedGirl]

@eIectroexecutee Yes, very simple controls, no timer, just one knob to turn. Looks like it has three positions: High Voltage - Off - Low Voltage. The big circuit breaker at the bottom of the panel is probably the connection between the control panel and the wires leading to the chair.

As for the restraints, I'd favor big, heavy old-fashioned irons. Even modern cuffs look to flimsy for such a solemn occasion.

[CondemnedGirl]

Pretty cool! I prefer classic black leather for the straps and mask, though..

[nicspic2011]

They likely barred filming of the water barrel test for concern it might serve as a evidence for a subsequent Otey appeal. If the wire were shown arcing or the water boiling, you can bet Otey would have gotten a stay claiming that it signified he would be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.

[eIectroexecutee]

@nicspic2011 It's also an extremely crap way of testing whether the chair is working properly. By the sounds of it, the guy who says he can hear the "hum" sounds like that alone sealed it for him.

Next they'll be putting sponges in household toasters to conclusively prove that the wrong sponge was used to set an executee's head on fire.

[CondemnedGirl]

@eIectroexecutee One time, when Florida's notoriously incompetent electrocution team did the "salt water" test, they let the ends of the wires touch the metal sides of the tub, causing a short circuit and popping the chair's breaker. The amazing thing is that they actually figured out what they did wrong, allowing a successful test and (maybe) a successful execution.

[eIectroexecutee]

@CondemnedGirl It is truly amazing that they actually figured out what went wrong. No wonder they call it "Old Sparky". There's always a malfunction. Maybe they see malfunctions as normal, meaning that to them, a correct execution is a botched one.

[conker206]

Any opinions on why they wouldn't let them film the bucket of water with the cable in it?

[nicspic2011]

I remember seeing this on 48 Hours many years ago as well. It was amazing to see how they did this and that they would allow CBS news in to cover it. Some other unusual aspects of Nebraska's protocol, the clemency hearing involved three governor, secretary of state and some other elected official (not a pardons board). Also, Otey's isolation cell was in the prison hospital with a window that could be seen by activists standing outside the prison. Thanks for posting.

[MrNWA4Life]

@nicspic2011

Nebraska's clemency Board is made up of the Governor, Secretary of State, and the Attorney General. Otey had a good lawyer that brought up in appeals that the Attorney General sat on the clemency board, yet his office pushed for his execution, a conflict of interest. The death row row cells were always in the hospital ward (even in the old buildings they were demolished in 1980) until they built the prison in Tecumsah in 2003 and moved death row there.

[survida100]

@MrNWA4Life Can you upload the whole episode on youtube??

[cff121]

Yeah I remember that show as a teenager. 48 Hours: Death by Midnight on CBS. Harold Otay escaped death on that show but was electrocuted a few months later, his appeals exhausted.