Officials rule out execution inquiry 06/09/00

Friday, June 9, 2000

Story last updated at 12:48 a.m. on Friday, June 9, 2000

Officials rule out execution inquiry

By Rich Tucker
Times-Union staff writer

State Attorney Rod Smith of Gainesville announced yesterday that no further investigation is warranted into Bennie Demps' accusation that he was treated improperly by the prison team preparing him to be executed Wednesday.

Just prior to his execution, Demps -- who was put to death for the 1976 murder of fellow Florida State Prison inmate Alfred Sturgis -- said he was "butchered" during the procedure to prepare him for lethal injection.

Demps asked his lawyer, George Schaefer, to seek an investigation of the events leading up to the execution. He said he was made to bleed "profusely" by the prison team as it attempted to insert intravenous needles into him.

However, David Thomas, health services director for the Department of Corrections, said the lethal injection protocol was followed properly.

"The inmate suffered no undue discomfort," he said in a written statement.

According to prison officials, it is within Florida's execution protocol to search for a vein in an inmate's leg when they are unable to locate a suitable vein in the arm for the IV.

Yesterday, Schaefer sent a letter to Smith, the chief prosecutor for the area where the prison is located, formally requesting an inquiry into the execution.

Smith released a statement yesterday saying that an observer from his office who attended an examination by an Alachua County medical examiner reported that Demps' body "revealed a large bore needle mark in the right groin and a small incision inside the right ankle." Puncture wounds were also found in Demps' arms. Two sutures were observed in the right ankle, according to a spokeswoman from Smith's office.

Based on those observations and the report from the medical examiner, Smith said that his office "finds no reason to further investigate the allegations of Mr. Demps as conveyed by his lawyer" and would make "no further inquiries on this matter."

Justin Sayfie, Gov. Jeb Bush's communications director, said the execution was carried out successfully and there was no reason to consider changes in procedure.

According to Thomas, other states that perform lethal injection sometimes must perform surgical procedures to locate a vein in which to insert the intravenous needles.

In Indiana, during the state's first lethal injection in 1996, members of the execution team were unable to find a usable vein in the inmate's arms, prompting them to perform a surgical procedure and insert an IV in his foot, according to Indiana Department of Correction spokeswoman Pam Pattison . Pattison said the inmate did not experience any discomfort during the procedure.

However, correction officials from Texas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, California and Maryland -- all of which perform lethal injection -- said yesterday that no surgical procedure has been performed in conjunction with an execution in those states.

Debra Buchanan, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections, said despite Demps' complaints, there would be no changes to the execution protocol. The incident is not expected to delay Thomas Provenzano's execution, which is scheduled for June 20, Buchanan said.

Wednesday marked Florida's third lethal injection since the state changed its primary method of execution from electrocution this year. There were no known complications with the prior two.