European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 24, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Sean Loughlin new York times n Alabama Franklin Dunkins or a mildly retarded murderer was shocked twice in the electric chair after the first Jolt failed to kill him. Texas prison technicians prodded murderer and former drug addict Stephen Morin s arms for 40 minutes searching for a suitable vein in which to inject the fatal Poison. Mississippi state officials cleared the room when Jimmy Lee Gray a desperate gasps for air in a Gas chamber repulsed witnesses. And in Florida an execution took a macabre turn when flames and smoke shot from Jesse Tafero s head As he was being electrocuted in May. Despite attempts to sanitize the act executions sometimes go awry. That fact is now colouring the capital punishment debate that has raged since the supreme court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Alabama state officials announced that the 73-year-old electric chair at Atmore would be replaced with a new one after two of the last seven executions were bungled. Dunkins execution on july 14,1989, which had already been controversial because of his retardation caused a Public uproar when the first Jolt did no to do the Job proponents and opponents of the death penalty both say they Are troubled by such events but differ on their bearing on the merits of capital punishments. Quot from my perspective pm not real concerned about an inmates suffering Quot said Wendy Nelson a Florida resident whose 10-year-old daughter Elisa was brutally murdered in an Orange Grove in 1980 by a Man now on Florida a death Row. Quot there Are those who believe they ought to die the Way their victims  a those seeking to abolish the death penalty contend the botched executions Are Only the most glaring examples of a punishment too cruel even for society s most despicable killers. Quot there is no such thing As a humane Way to kill another person Quot said Watt Espy who runs the one Man capital punishment research project in Headland Ala. About 35 people opposed to the death penalty participated recently in a March from Florida state prison in Starke to Atlanta. The pilgrimage As the March was called is intended to renew the National focus on capital punishment. Since the supreme court cleared the Way for executions 14 years ago some 130 prisoners have been put to death in 14 states. The vast majority of those executions have been in the South activists say  use the Florida execution to Sway Public opinion. Quot it ought to make people take a second look at what we re doing Quot said Leigh Dingerson director of the Washington based National coalition to abolish the death  penalty proponents Don t expect much fallout from either the March or the most recent execution foul up. John Scully counsel for the various methods of execution and punishment As depicted in a 16th Century German woodcut supreme court Justice William Brennan has questioned whether electrocution is a nothing less than tha contemporary technological equivalent of burning people at the  Bung too cruel a punishment Washington Legal foundation called these mishaps Quot totally . Quot accidents occur in a lot of things Quot said Scully whose non profit group fights for victims rights and supports the death penalty. Quot i Don t think a March by 40 abolitionists or publicity about one or two mishaps that occur Are going to seriously affect that debate Quot the Tafero death and a handful of others in the 1980s Are the most recent examples in a string of bungled executions that Date Back to the Days of the Hangman. One Hundred years ago new York became the first state to use the electric chair. The prisoner was killed Only after a second Jolt of electricity ran through his body for five minutes. Richard Dugger Florida s corrections Secretary concedes mistakes Are always possible. Quot you can to Ever guarantee there wont be some malfunction Quot Dugger said. Quot machines Are always subject to trouble. And any time you be got the human element to contend with you re Likely Mohave mistakes  Florida officials attributed the violence of the May 4 execution of Tafero a condemned for the 1976 shooting of two Law enforcement officers a to a synthetic sponge placed in the Skullcap the synthetic failed to conduct electricity As Well As the natural sponges that had been used for 21 previous executions. In the 1980s, there have been at least eight executions where death came neither swiftly nor smoothly As documented by death penalty foes lawyers scholars and the courts. Seven years ago Russell f. Canan a Washington d c. Defense attorney watched one of his clients die in Alabama a electric chair. The image still Burns in his mind. John Louis Evans was  the chair on the night of april 22,1983 for murdering a Mobile pawnshop owner in  the Man s two daughters. Canan recalled the first Jolt. V Quot flames erupted from his Lef Meg smoke emitted from under his Hood and there were some Sparks you could see Quot he said. Evans was still alive. Another Jolt was administered but Evans heart beat on. Canan demanded the execution be stopped but gov. George Wallace refused to intervene. It took one More 30-second charge to kill Evans. In All the execution took 14 minutes Canan s account was cited by supreme court Justice William Brennan in a 1985 dissenting opinion on capital punishment. An ardent foe of the death penalty. Brennan asked whether electrocution is Quot a humane method for extinguishing human life or is instead nothing less than the contemporary technological equivalent of burning people at the  other modes of execution have proved no less troublesome a in Texas deep scars on Morin s arms from longtime drug use almost prevented his 1985 execution by lethal injection. Mississippi corrections officials considered a change in procedures after Gray s 1983 execution by Gas caused desperate contortions viewed by witnesses. One of the most frequently cited cases is that of Willie Francis a 15-year-old Black youth who in 1946, was convicted of killing White druggist in Louisiana. It was the subject of a Book entitled death by instalments the ordeal of Willie Francis by Jeffrey Bowman now a lawyer at the Federal election commission and the late Arthur s. Miller a Law professor. At the time Louisiana had a portable electric chair which sat atop a pickup truck travelling the state. Francis was strapped into the chair on May 3, 1946. The chair Only shocked Francis Francis was quoted in the Book Quot i saw Blue and Pink and Green speckles like the kind that shines in a rooster Tail. I Felt burning in my head and my left leg and t jumped against the straps. I hoped i was alive and i asked the electric Man to let me  a sharply divided supreme court later ruled it would not be cruel and unusual punishment to again place Francis in the electric chair one year and six Days after the first Blunder Francis was put to death. Espy the Alabama researcher who has studied capital punishment for 20 years doubts executions can Ever be foolproof and does t believe the Public cares. He recalled a recent conversation with a Post office clerk about Tafero a execution in Florida. Quot she said Quot he deserved every bit of it a Quot Espy recalled Quot Quot he did t suffer As much As the two officers Quot a tuesday july 24, 1990 the stars and stripes Page 13