Weekly Discussion

Angelina Garcia

2-9-14

The first video that I watched on Democracy Now! was about executions being performed with untested drugs. The story includes a clip of one man, named Dennis McGuire, detailing the death of his father by lethal injection. He recalls his father’s struggling for 19 minutes before his death. The reason as to why states are using untested concoctions for execution is because many drugs companies are pulling their products in opposition of the death penalty. One company called Hospira announced they will discontinue manufacturing of a drug called sodium thiopental, which is used for lethal injections. Due to the drug shortage, many states are considering other methods of execution that they allow, including the electric chair, hanging, and death by gas chamber. Alan Johnson, a reporter from a Columbus, Ohio newspaper, joins the show and confirms McGuire’s details about his father’s execution. Cheryl Pilate, an attorney for a man who had been executed in Missouri, talks about how her client was mouthing words they were unable to comprehend. She talks about how he died fairly quickly, but it is possible he was experiencing the same as Dennie McGuire’s father. http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/7/execution_chaos_witnesses_say_executions_are

 

The next story that I looked at was about a Florida teen named Jordan Davis who was shot as a passenger in the back seat of his friend’s car. The man who shot him, Michael Dunn, claims that the teen looked as if he was reaching for a weapon. This alleged action caused Dunn to use his handgun to fire at the vehicle. He continued to shoot, even after the vehicle retreated. The video begins with a clip of Davis’ mother, Lucia McBath who reveals that Dunn fired a total of nine shots into the vehicle. The video also includes clips of attorney John Guy, who opens his argument with the fact that the vehicle contained no weapons; he goes on to talk about how Dunn failed to inform the police of his deadly altercation. Dunn’s defense attorney, Cory Strolla, says that Dunn was justified in his actions. Strolla claims that every other person in the car ducked and Davis was shot because he was in the action of getting out of the car with a weapon. Michael Skolnik of GlobalGrind.com discusses this particular case in relation to the Trayvon Martin/ George Zimmerman case, stating, “the significance of this case certainly has been heightened since the acquittal of George Zimmerman, when we watched a guy walk for killing an unarmed teenager. And now, once again, we see this play over again.”

 http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/7/trial_begins_in_case_of_man