Executed Brazilian unaware of his sentence

By Finn Bunting

On April 29, the Indonesia government’s stark anti-drugs policy reached a grisly conclusion as eight convicted drug smugglers were executed by firing squad on the Nusakambangan prison island of Indonesia.

Their names were Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran (both Australian), Zainal Abidin (Indonesian), Rodrigo Gularte (Brazilian), and Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise, Raheem Agbaje Salami, Okwudili Oyatanze and Martin Anderson (all of Nigeria).

The case received widespread condemnation and many last-ditch pleas by the families of the men. One woman, Filipino Mary Jane Veloso was spared at the last moment allegedly due to new developments in her case.

Brazilian Gularte, 42, sentenced to death for smuggling 6kg of cocaine inside surfboards had been diagnosed with acute paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

According to family he spent most of his time in prison talking to walls, imagining ghosts or hearing voices.

Father Charlie Burrows

It has been alleged that Gularte did not understand his death sentence up until his final minutes. This is in contravention of international law which states that the accused must be aware of their punishment.

Father Charlie Burrows, the Irish priest appointed as Gularte's spiritual advisor, spoke to the Brazilian for an hour and a half late into the night in an attempt to prepare him for the executions.  

Tragically, Burrows said Gularte remained confused: “He asked if there was a sniper outside ready to shoot him, and I said no, and whether somebody would shoot him in the car, and I said no”.

Gularte was born into a wealthy Brazilian family and had been a keen surfer until his life spiralled into drug addiction and mental illness.

Prior to his execution, he was strapped to a wooden plank, and Burrows was allowed to spend some final moments with him. “This is not right, I made one small mistake, and I shouldn’t have to die for it,” the Brazilian is alleged to have said.

Burrows said he had tried to reassure Gularte “I’m 72 years old, I’ll be heading to heaven in the near future, so you find out where my house is and prepare a garden for me.”

Todung Mulya Lubis, a lawyer for one of the executed men, tweeted his apologies. "I failed. I lost," he said. "I'm sorry.”

Oklahoma reintroduces nitrogen gas for executions

By Finn Bunting

Oklahoma has authorised the use of nitrogen gas to execute death row inmates despite facing controversy following the botched execution of Clayton Lockett one year ago.

All pending executions have been put on hold in Oklahoma while the Supreme Court reviews the use of lethal injections in response to the national and international outcry after the Lockett execution. Condemnation came from as high as President Obama and the United Nations.

Governor Mary Fallin (R) authorised nitrogen hypoxia as a backup method if lethal injections are ruled unconstitutional or the drug cocktail shortage means lethal injection drugs are too difficult to source. 

“Oklahoma executes murderers whose crimes are especially heinous,” Fallin said. “I support that policy, and I believe capital punishment must be performed effectively and without cruelty. The bill I signed today gives the state of Oklahoma another death penalty option that meets that standard.”

Nitrogen gas works by asphyxiating the prisoner. The gas is applied through a mask or oxygen tent and is usually quick, killing the prisoner in minutes.

The return to nitrogen gas marks Oklahoma as the third state in recent times to change its execution method - after Utah brought back the firing squad and Tennessee reintroduced the electric chair - both clear signs of desperation due to the lethal injection drug cocktail shortage. 

Dementia-sufferer executed despite last-ditch pleas

By Finn Bunting

Cecil Clayton, a 74-year-old dementia-sufferer with an IQ of 71, was recently executed by the state of Missouri despite his attorney’s last-ditch pleas. His lawyers had hoped he might be spared execution due to diminished understanding - Clayton was missing a large section of his brain. 

In 1972, a sawmill accident resulted in a shard of wood being speared into his head. Clayton had about 20% of his frontal lobe removed (around 8% of the total brain mass). The part of the brain involved in impulse control, problem solving, and social behaviour. 

From that point on Clayton was plagued by his own mind; suffering from violent impulses, schizophrenia and extreme paranoia. The New York Times reports: “there was a profound change in him that he doesn’t understand”. In 1996 he shot deputy sheriff Christopher L. Castetter of Barry County, southwestern Missouri and was sentenced to death. 

Clayton’s attempts at exemption hinged on his attorney’s attempts to prove he didn’t understand his death sentence. Under both Missouri and federal law “the condemned [must] know that they are to be executed and understand the reasons for it.”

Prophetically, psychiatrist Dr. Douglas Stevens, who evaluated Clayton’s mental state as far back as 1983, said: “There is presently no way that this man could be expected to function in the world of work … He has had both suicidal and homicidal impulses, so far controlled, though under pressure they would be expected to exacerbate.” 

Cecil Clayton’s last meal was fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans and cola.

Read more:

Death Penalty Information Centre

New York Times March 7, 2015.