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| McAuliffe guts Virginia’s electric-chair bill | McAuliffe guts Virginia’s electric-chair bill |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| RICHMOND — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe gutted a bill to let Virginia use the electric chair when it cannot find scarce lethal-injection drugs, making an 11th-hour amendment Sunday that would instead allow the state to hire a pharmacy to make a special batch in secret. | RICHMOND — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe gutted a bill to let Virginia use the electric chair when it cannot find scarce lethal-injection drugs, making an 11th-hour amendment Sunday that would instead allow the state to hire a pharmacy to make a special batch in secret. |
| Up against a midnight deadline to veto or amend legislation from this year’s General Assembly session, McAuliffe (D) scrapped the essence of a measure intended to address the drug shortage by making the electric chair Virginia’s default method of execution. | Up against a midnight deadline to veto or amend legislation from this year’s General Assembly session, McAuliffe (D) scrapped the essence of a measure intended to address the drug shortage by making the electric chair Virginia’s default method of execution. |
| The chair is already an option in the state, where condemned inmates are allowed to choose between it and lethal injection. The measure was intended to remove the choice if the state cannot obtain the drugs, which have grown scarce amid political pressure against the death penalty. | The chair is already an option in the state, where condemned inmates are allowed to choose between it and lethal injection. The measure was intended to remove the choice if the state cannot obtain the drugs, which have grown scarce amid political pressure against the death penalty. |
| [Va. assembly passes bill to use electric chair when execution drugs aren’t available] | [Va. assembly passes bill to use electric chair when execution drugs aren’t available] |
| McAuliffe’s amendment comes at the scarcity issue in a different way, by allowing the state to special-order the drugs from compounding pharmacies, whose identities would be kept secret to shield them from pressure. McAuliffe backed a bill to that effect last year, but the measure died amid controversy over the secrecy provisions. | McAuliffe’s amendment comes at the scarcity issue in a different way, by allowing the state to special-order the drugs from compounding pharmacies, whose identities would be kept secret to shield them from pressure. McAuliffe backed a bill to that effect last year, but the measure died amid controversy over the secrecy provisions. |
| McAuliffe’s amendment once again seeks to keep the names of the pharmacies private, potentially even from lawsuits that could arise from a botched execution. | McAuliffe’s amendment once again seeks to keep the names of the pharmacies private, potentially even from lawsuits that could arise from a botched execution. |
| The names of the pharmacies and any other indentifying information “shall be confidential, shall be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act . . . and shall not be subject to discovery or introduction as evidence in any civil proceeding unless good cause is shown,” McAuliffe’s amendment reads. | The names of the pharmacies and any other indentifying information “shall be confidential, shall be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act . . . and shall not be subject to discovery or introduction as evidence in any civil proceeding unless good cause is shown,” McAuliffe’s amendment reads. |
| McAuliffe has pledged to uphold capital punishment as a matter of Virginia law. He gave a step-by-step description of “reprehensible” electric-chair executions at a news conference Monday and said his goal was to preserve the state’s ability to carry out executions in a way that he described as “humane.” | |
| “We take human beings, we strap them into a chair, and then we flood their bodies with 1800 volts of electricity, subjecting them to unspeakable pain until they die,” McAuliffe said. “Virginia citizens do not want their commonwealth to revert back to a past when excessively inhumane punishments were committed in their name.” | |
| Republican death-penalty supporters, including the bill’s sponsor, Del. Jackson H. Miller (Manassas), did not immediately respond to McAuliffe’s action. The GOP-controlled legislature will have the opportunity to accept or reject McAuliffe’s amendment when it returns for its veto session April 20. | |
| McAuliffe warned legislators that if they do not accept his amendment, he will veto the legislation — a move that he said will end capital punishment in Virginia, at least until some other source for the drugs is found. | |
| “All I’m doing today is providing a humane way to carry out capital punishment here in Virginia,” he said. “So we have options. If they do not take it up, I want to be clear, they will be ending capital punishment here in Virginia.” | |
| Asked by a reporter whether he wanted to end capital punishment, McAuliffe said no. | |
| “I did not run on ending capital punishment,” he said. “When I ran for governor, I said I would uphold the law.” | |
| McAuliffe’s move drew swift criticism from some death-penalty foes, including Virginia’s two Catholic bishops, Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond and Paul S. Loverde of Arlington. No fans of the underlying bill, they said they believe he should have vetoed it. The Catholic Church is opposed to the death penalty. | |
| “We are dismayed and deeply disappointed that . . . instead of vetoing expanded use of the electric chair, [the governor] inserted language that would shroud in secrecy the execution process,” the bishops said in a statement, which also criticized McAuliffe, a Catholic, for vetoing legislation related to abortion and gay marriage. | |
| [Lacking lethal-injection drugs, Va. might turn to the electric chair] | [Lacking lethal-injection drugs, Va. might turn to the electric chair] |
| Like many states, Virginia has struggled with how to carry out capital punishment at a time when lethal-injection drugs have become hard to obtain. A European export ban has stopped pharmaceutical firms from sending the drugs to the United States. | Like many states, Virginia has struggled with how to carry out capital punishment at a time when lethal-injection drugs have become hard to obtain. A European export ban has stopped pharmaceutical firms from sending the drugs to the United States. |